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

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant gerbera is to use the USDA zone info for Cornelius.

Planting Calendar for Gerbera

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

Gerbera are barely cold tolerant which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gerbera 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 gerbera and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your gerbera may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your gerbera indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Cornelius. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Cornelius is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Cornelius it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your gerbera 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.