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.

In Chatham you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant purple coneflower by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Purple Coneflower

Frost tolerance for purple coneflower:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant purple coneflower just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Chatham 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your purple coneflower may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your purple coneflower indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Chatham. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Chatham and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Chatham you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your purple coneflower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chatham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Chatham

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