One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 can determine when it's the best time to plant echinacea in Gilberts by referring to 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 can survive in some cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Gilberts 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your echinacea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Gilberts. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Gilberts may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Gilberts last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your echinacea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Gilberts

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 Gilberts

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