Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when it's possible to plant rudbeckia in Schenectady by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

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

Rudbeckia do ok in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Schenectady 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your rudbeckia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your rudbeckia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Schenectady is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Schenectady it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your rudbeckia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Schenectady

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 Schenectady

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