One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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.

One way of determining when it's the best time to plant achillea is to use the USDA zone info for Rifle.

Planting Calendar for Achillea

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

You can plant achillea a lot earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant achillea in Rifle is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant achillea and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your achillea may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your achillea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rifle the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rifle is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Rifle last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your achillea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rifle

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Rifle

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