One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant echinacea is to refer to the USDA zone info for Ironwood.

Planting Calendar for Echinacea

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

Echinacea do ok in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Ironwood is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant echinacea and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your echinacea may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your echinacea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ironwood the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ironwood is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Ironwood you get a frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your echinacea if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ironwood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Ironwood

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