Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. 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 echinacea in Big Bear Lake should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Echinacea

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

Echinacea are barely cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Big Bear Lake is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant echinacea and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your echinacea may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your echinacea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Big Bear Lake. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Big Bear Lake may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Big Bear Lake you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your echinacea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Big Bear Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Big Bear Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Big Bear Lake.