The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when you can plant purple coneflower is to examine the USDA zone info for Bay City.

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.

Since purple coneflower are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Bay City 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your purple coneflower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your purple coneflower indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Bay City. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Bay City is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Bay City it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your purple coneflower if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bay City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Bay City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Bay City.