One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Rainbow City should be read to determine when it's a good idea to plant coreopsis.

Planting Calendar for Coreopsis

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

You can plant coreopsis a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

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

The last month that you can plant coreopsis and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your coreopsis may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your coreopsis indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rainbow City. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rainbow City and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rainbow City last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your coreopsis in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rainbow City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Rainbow City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rainbow City.