The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant gayfeather is to use the USDA zone info for Lake Elmo.

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 tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Lake Elmo 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 gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Lake Elmo the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Lake Elmo is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Elmo it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to cover your gayfeather if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Elmo

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 Lake Elmo

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