One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in California should be estimated 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 quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in California 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. Any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your gayfeather indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in California. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for California is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in California you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your gayfeather in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for California

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in California

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