One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

The first chance to plant gayfeather in Cape Girardeau can be estimated by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

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

Since gayfeather are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Cape Girardeau is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gayfeather may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your gayfeather indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Cape Girardeau. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Cape Girardeau is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Cape Girardeau last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your gayfeather if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cape Girardeau

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Cape Girardeau

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Cape Girardeau.