One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to estimate when it's a good idea to plant centaurea by using the USDA zone info for Genoa.

Planting Calendar for Centaurea

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

Centaurea tend to make it in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant centaurea in Genoa 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 centaurea and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your centaurea may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your centaurea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Genoa. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Genoa is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Genoa last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your centaurea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Genoa

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 Genoa

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