One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

In Ponchatoula you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant gazania by looking at the USDA zone info.

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.

Gazania do well in some cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant gazania in Ponchatoula 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gazania may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your gazania indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ponchatoula the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ponchatoula is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ponchatoula you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your gazania if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ponchatoula

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Ponchatoula

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