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.

It's possible to determine when you can plant gazania by looking at the USDA zone info for Traverse City.

Planting Calendar for Gazania

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

Gazania tend to make it in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Traverse City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Traverse City is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Traverse City you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your gazania in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Traverse City

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 Traverse City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Traverse City.