One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 figuring out when it's the best time to plant rudbeckia is to examine the USDA zone info for Winterset.

Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

Frost tolerance for rudbeckia:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Rudbeckia are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Winterset 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 rudbeckia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your rudbeckia may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your rudbeckia indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Winterset. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Winterset and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Winterset there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your rudbeckia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Winterset

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 Winterset

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