Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. 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 a good idea to plant chrysanthemum is to look at the USDA zone info for Rifle.

Planting Calendar for Chrysanthemum

Frost tolerance for chrysanthemum:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Chrysanthemum do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant chrysanthemum in Rifle 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 chrysanthemum and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chrysanthemum may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chrysanthemum indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Rifle is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rifle you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your chrysanthemum in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.