One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your 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 Slidell should be read to determine when you can plant purple coneflower.

Planting Calendar for Purple Coneflower

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

You can plant purple coneflower just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Slidell 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your purple coneflower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your purple coneflower indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Slidell. It might get as low as 20°F during 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 Slidell and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Slidell it frosts late in the year after February 15 so always be ready to protect your purple coneflower in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Slidell

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Slidell

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