Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when it's possible to plant centaurea by reviewing the USDA zone info for Rocky Mount.

Planting Calendar for Centaurea

Frost tolerance for centaurea:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Centaurea do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant centaurea in Rocky Mount is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant centaurea and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your centaurea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your centaurea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rocky Mount the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rocky Mount and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Rocky Mount it frosts late in the year after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your centaurea if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rocky Mount

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 Rocky Mount

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rocky Mount.