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 can determine when it's a good idea to plant gayfeather in Metuchen by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

Frost tolerance for gayfeather:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant gayfeather a lot earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Metuchen 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 gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your gayfeather indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Metuchen the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Metuchen may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Metuchen last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your gayfeather in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Metuchen

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Metuchen

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