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.

A common way of estimating when you can plant gayfeather is to use the USDA zone info for Sonora.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

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

Gayfeather do well in a bit of cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Sonora 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gayfeather may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Sonora. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Sonora is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Sonora there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your gayfeather if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sonora

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 Sonora

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