The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. 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 Oak Ridge should be reffered to in order to determine when to plant echinacea.

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.

Echinacea do well in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Oak Ridge 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 echinacea and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your echinacea may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your echinacea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Oak Ridge. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Oak Ridge is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Oak Ridge there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your echinacea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Oak Ridge

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 Oak Ridge

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Oak Ridge.