One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Thomson you should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant gazania.

Planting Calendar for Gazania

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

You can plant gazania just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant gazania in Thomson 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 gazania and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your gazania may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your gazania indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Thomson. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Thomson is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Thomson you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your gazania if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Thomson

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 Thomson

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