One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Holly you can estimate when it's the best time to plant gaillardia by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gaillardia

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

Gaillardia are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Holly 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 gaillardia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your gaillardia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gaillardia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Holly the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Holly and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Holly you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your gaillardia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Holly

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 Holly

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