One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 La Plata can be used to estimate when it's the best time to plant centaurea.

Planting Calendar for Centaurea

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

Centaurea do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant centaurea in La Plata 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 centaurea and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your centaurea may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your centaurea indoors.

Last Frost Date

In La Plata the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for La Plata and it is different every year. Since half of the time in La Plata you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your centaurea in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for La Plata

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 La Plata

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Plata.