The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to figure out when you can plant gaillardia by referring to the USDA zone info for Utica.

Planting Calendar for Gaillardia

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

Gaillardia can survive in very little 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 gaillardia in Utica 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 gaillardia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your gaillardia may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your gaillardia indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Utica. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Utica is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Utica you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your gaillardia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Utica

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 Utica

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