One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A way of estimating when it's possible to plant gayfeather is to check out the USDA zone info for Palatka.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

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

Gayfeather are very cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Palatka 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 gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gayfeather may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your gayfeather indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Palatka. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Palatka is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Palatka last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your gayfeather in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Palatka

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 Palatka

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