One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

The first chance to plant purple coneflower in Atwater should be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Purple Coneflower

Frost tolerance for purple coneflower:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant purple coneflower a bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Atwater 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your purple coneflower may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your purple coneflower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Atwater. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Atwater and it is different every year. Half of the time in Atwater it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your purple coneflower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Atwater

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 Atwater

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Atwater.