One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 a good idea to determine when you can plant doronicum by checking out the USDA zone info for Elkhart.

Planting Calendar for Doronicum

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

Doronicum can survive in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant doronicum in Elkhart 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 doronicum and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your doronicum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your doronicum 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 Elkhart. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elkhart is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Elkhart it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your doronicum in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elkhart

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Elkhart

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