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.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Benton can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Echinacea

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

Echinacea tend to make it in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Benton 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 echinacea and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your echinacea may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your echinacea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Benton. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Benton and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Benton it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your echinacea in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Benton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Benton

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