Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant echinacea in Rome by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Echinacea

Frost tolerance for echinacea:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant echinacea just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Rome is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant echinacea and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your echinacea may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your echinacea indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rome. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rome is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rome you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your echinacea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rome

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rome

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