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

One way of estimating when it's possible to plant gerbera is to examine the USDA zone info for Joplin.

Planting Calendar for Gerbera

Frost tolerance for gerbera:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since gerbera do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant gerbera in Joplin 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 gerbera and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your gerbera may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your gerbera indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Joplin. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Joplin is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Joplin you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your gerbera if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Joplin

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 Joplin

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