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.

By using the USDA zone info for Pekin it's possible to determine when you can plant gazania.

Planting Calendar for Gazania

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

You can plant gazania slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant gazania in Pekin 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 gazania and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your gazania may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your gazania indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Pekin. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Pekin is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Pekin you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your gazania in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pekin

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 Pekin

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