One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 Gaithersburg should be looked at to figure out when it's the best time to plant helianthemum.

Planting Calendar for Helianthemum

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

Helianthemum do well in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant helianthemum in Gaithersburg 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 helianthemum and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your helianthemum may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your helianthemum indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Gaithersburg. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Gaithersburg may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Gaithersburg it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your helianthemum in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Gaithersburg

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Gaithersburg

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