One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to figure out when it's a good idea to plant basket of gold by using the USDA zone info for Forest Park.

Planting Calendar for Basket of Gold

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

Since basket of gold are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant basket of gold in Forest Park is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant basket of gold and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your basket of gold may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your basket of gold indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Forest Park the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Forest Park is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Forest Park last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your basket of gold if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Forest Park

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 Forest Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Forest Park.