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

The USDA zone info for Ponchatoula should be used to determine when it's the best time to plant rudbeckia.

Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

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

Rudbeckia are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Ponchatoula 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 rudbeckia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your rudbeckia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your rudbeckia indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Ponchatoula. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Ponchatoula is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary 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 rudbeckia if you have one of those late frosts.

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.