When to Plant Black Eyed Susans in Chapel Hill, NC

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Chapel Hill you should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant black eyed susans.


Planting Calendar for Black Eyed Susans

Frost tolerance for black eyed susans: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

You should not plant black eyed susans until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant black eyed susans
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant black eyed susans
Probably not a good time to plant black eyed susans

The earliest that you can plant black eyed susans in Chapel Hill 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 black eyed susans and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your black eyed susans may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your black eyed susans indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Chapel Hill. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Chapel Hill is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Chapel Hill there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your black eyed susans if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chapel Hill

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low5°F
Highest Expected Low10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Chapel Hill

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Chapel Hill.