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.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant gayfeather is to refer to the USDA zone info for Sturgis.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

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

Gayfeather are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Sturgis 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. If you wait any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your gayfeather indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Sturgis. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sturgis and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Sturgis last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your gayfeather in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sturgis

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Sturgis

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