When to Plant Rudbeckia in Bristol, PA

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A common way of determining when it's the best time to plant rudbeckia is to use the USDA zone info for Bristol.


Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

Frost tolerance for rudbeckia: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since rudbeckia are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant rudbeckia
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant rudbeckia
Probably not a good time to plant rudbeckia

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Bristol 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 rudbeckia and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your rudbeckia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your rudbeckia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Bristol. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bristol is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Bristol you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your rudbeckia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bristol

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°F

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

Plants to Grow in Bristol

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