One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

You should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant rudbeckia by using the USDA zone info for Port Chester.

Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

Frost tolerance for rudbeckia:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant rudbeckia a little earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Port Chester 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 rudbeckia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your rudbeckia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your rudbeckia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Port Chester is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Port Chester you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your rudbeckia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Port Chester

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 Port Chester

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Port Chester.