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.

By using the USDA zone info for Moorhead it's a good idea to estimate when you can plant gaillardia.

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.

Since gaillardia do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Moorhead 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 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your gaillardia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Moorhead the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Moorhead is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Moorhead you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your gaillardia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Moorhead

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Moorhead

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