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 a good idea to plant black eyed susans is to look at the USDA zone info for Clayton.

Planting Calendar for Black Eyed Susans

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

Since black eyed susans are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black eyed susans in Clayton 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. If you wait any later than that and your black eyed susans may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your black eyed susans indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Clayton. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Clayton and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Clayton there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your black eyed susans in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clayton

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 Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 Clayton

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