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

You should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant echinacea by reviewing the USDA zone info for Berlin.

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 means 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 Berlin 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. If you wait any later than that and your echinacea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your echinacea indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Berlin. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Berlin is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Berlin it frosts late in the year after May 15 so always be ready to cover your echinacea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Berlin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Berlin

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