One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when you can plant coreopsis is to refer to the USDA zone info for Gulf Shores.

Planting Calendar for Coreopsis

Frost tolerance for coreopsis:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Coreopsis do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant coreopsis in Gulf Shores is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant coreopsis and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your coreopsis may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your coreopsis indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Gulf Shores. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Gulf Shores is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Gulf Shores you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your coreopsis if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Gulf Shores

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Gulf Shores

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Gulf Shores.