One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant gayfeather is to examine the USDA zone info for Rochester.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

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

Gayfeather do well in cold weather which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Rochester 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. If you wait any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your gayfeather indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Rochester is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Rochester you get a frost after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your gayfeather in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

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 Rochester

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