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.

In Portales you can determine when it's a good idea to plant gayfeather by referring to 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.

Gayfeather are very cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Portales 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. If you wait any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your gayfeather indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Portales the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Portales is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Portales you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your gayfeather in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Portales

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 Portales

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