Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Richmond you can determine when it's a good idea to plant gayfeather by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

Frost tolerance for gayfeather:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Gayfeather do well in cold which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Richmond 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 gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Richmond and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Richmond you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your gayfeather if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

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 Richmond

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