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.

In Sidney you can determine when to plant echinacea by referring to 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.

You can plant echinacea slightly earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Sidney 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your echinacea may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your echinacea indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Sidney the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Sidney is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Sidney there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your echinacea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sidney

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 Sidney

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