One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Hood River you can determine when it's possible to plant gayfeather by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

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

Gayfeather can survive in cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Hood River 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. If you wait any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Hood River. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Hood River is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Hood River you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your gayfeather if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hood River

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

Plants to Grow in Hood River

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Hood River.