One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 looking at the USDA zone info for Gresham it's possible to figure out when you can plant cosmos.

Planting Calendar for Cosmos

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

Cosmos are barely cold tolerant which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant cosmos in Gresham 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 cosmos and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cosmos may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your cosmos indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Gresham the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Gresham is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Gresham last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your cosmos if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gresham

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 Gresham

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