One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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 a good idea to plant gerbera is to consult the USDA zone info for Rome.

Planting Calendar for Gerbera

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

Gerbera are barely cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gerbera 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 gerbera and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your gerbera may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gerbera indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Rome the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rome is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Rome last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your gerbera if you have 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.