One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Big Lake you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant echinacea by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Echinacea

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

Echinacea are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Big Lake is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant echinacea and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your echinacea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your echinacea indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Big Lake the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Big Lake is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Big Lake you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so always be ready to protect your echinacea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Big Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Big Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Big Lake.