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.

You will be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant gaillardia by referring to the USDA zone info for Decatur.

Planting Calendar for Gaillardia

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

Gaillardia are barely cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Decatur. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Decatur may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Decatur there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your gaillardia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Decatur

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Decatur

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