One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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.

The USDA zone info for Portage should be used to estimate when it's a good idea to plant gayfeather.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

Frost tolerance for gayfeather:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since gayfeather do well in cold you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Portage 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 gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Portage is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Portage there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your gayfeather in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portage

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 Portage

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