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.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant purple coneflower is to consult the USDA zone info for West Point.

Planting Calendar for Purple Coneflower

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

Since purple coneflower are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in West Point 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your purple coneflower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your purple coneflower indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in West Point. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for West Point and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in West Point you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your purple coneflower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for West Point

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 West Point

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Point.