One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's the best time to plant gayfeather in El Centro by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

Frost tolerance for gayfeather:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Gayfeather are very cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in El Centro 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 gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in El Centro. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for El Centro and it is different every year. Since half of the time in El Centro you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your gayfeather if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for El Centro

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in El Centro

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Centro.