Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Emporia you can figure out when it's the best time to plant echinacea by using 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.

You can plant echinacea a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Emporia 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. Any later than that and your echinacea may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your echinacea indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Emporia. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Emporia and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Emporia you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your echinacea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Emporia

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 Emporia

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