One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Atlanta you can determine when it's a good idea to plant gaillardia by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gaillardia

Frost tolerance for gaillardia:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Gaillardia are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Atlanta 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 gaillardia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gaillardia may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your gaillardia indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Atlanta. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Atlanta is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Atlanta you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your gaillardia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Atlanta

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Atlanta

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