One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 Bartow you can determine when you can plant rudbeckia by looking at 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 are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Bartow 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 fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your rudbeckia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Bartow. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bartow is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Bartow there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your rudbeckia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bartow

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Bartow

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