One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 making a decision about when you can plant black eyed susans is to check out the USDA zone info for Cortez.

Planting Calendar for Black Eyed Susans

Frost tolerance for black eyed susans:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since black eyed susans are not cold tolerant it's important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black eyed susans in Cortez is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant black eyed susans and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your black eyed susans may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your black eyed susans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Cortez. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Cortez is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Cortez there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your black eyed susans if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cortez

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Cortez

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