Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when you can plant purple coneflower is to refer to the USDA zone info for Charles City.

Planting Calendar for Purple Coneflower

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

Purple Coneflower do ok in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Charles City 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your purple coneflower may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your purple coneflower indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Charles City. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Charles City may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Charles City you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your purple coneflower if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charles City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Charles City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Charles City.