One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

You can determine when you can plant echinacea in Waite Park 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 do ok in mild cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Waite Park 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. Any later than that and your echinacea may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your echinacea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Waite Park. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Waite Park and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Waite Park last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to cover your echinacea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waite Park

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 Waite Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Waite Park.