One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The first opportunity to plant black eyed susans in Alfred should be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Black Eyed Susans

Frost tolerance for black eyed susans:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Black Eyed Susans are not cold tolerant which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black eyed susans in Alfred 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 black eyed susans and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your black eyed susans may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your black eyed susans indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Alfred. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Alfred is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Alfred there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your black eyed susans if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alfred

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Alfred

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