One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

In Shafter you can estimate when it's possible to plant rudbeckia by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

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

Rudbeckia do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Shafter 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 rudbeckia and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your rudbeckia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your rudbeckia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Shafter. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Shafter is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Shafter there is a last frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your rudbeckia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Shafter

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 Shafter

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