One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 Portage should be used to estimate when you can plant gerbera.

Planting Calendar for Gerbera

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

Since gerbera do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant gerbera in Portage 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 gerbera and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your gerbera may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your gerbera indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Portage the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Portage is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Portage you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your gerbera if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portage

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 Portage

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