One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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.

The USDA zone info for Laurel should be reffered to in order to determine when it's the best time to plant gayfeather.

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 very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Laurel 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your gayfeather indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Laurel the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Laurel is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Laurel last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your gayfeather if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Laurel

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Laurel

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