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

A way of making a decision about when to plant gayfeather is to consult the USDA zone info for Portsmouth.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

Frost tolerance for gayfeather:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Gayfeather do well in cold weather which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Portsmouth 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 gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your gayfeather indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Portsmouth. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Portsmouth is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Portsmouth you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your gayfeather in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Portsmouth

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Portsmouth

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