One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Kent should be figured out by checking out 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 well in moderate 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 Kent 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. If you are starting your rudbeckia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Kent the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Kent and it is different every year. Half of the time in Kent it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your rudbeckia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Kent

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Kent

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