One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Newport you should be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant gerbera.

Planting Calendar for Gerbera

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

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

The earliest that you can plant gerbera in Newport 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 gerbera and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your gerbera may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your gerbera indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Newport. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Newport and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Newport you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your gerbera if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Newport

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Newport

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