One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

It's a good idea to estimate when you can plant black eyed susans by reviewing the USDA zone info for Ocala.

Planting Calendar for Black Eyed Susans

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

You can not plant black eyed susans until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant black eyed susans in Ocala is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 September. If you wait any later than that and your black eyed susans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your black eyed susans indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Ocala. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ocala and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ocala you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your black eyed susans if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ocala

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 Ocala

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