One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's possible to plant gayfeather is to consult the USDA zone info for Rio Rancho.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

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

Gayfeather are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Rio Rancho 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gayfeather may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your gayfeather indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Rio Rancho. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Rio Rancho may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rio Rancho you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your gayfeather in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rio Rancho

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Rio Rancho

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rio Rancho.