One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Cornelius it's possible to determine when it's a good idea to plant gaillardia.

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.

You can plant gaillardia a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Cornelius. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Cornelius is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Cornelius last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your gaillardia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cornelius

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Cornelius

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