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

You should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant gaillardia by using the USDA zone info for Royal Oak.

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 tend to make it in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Royal Oak 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gaillardia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gaillardia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Royal Oak. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Royal Oak is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Royal Oak you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your gaillardia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Royal Oak

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 Royal Oak

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Royal Oak.