When to Plant Gayfeather in Nanticoke, PA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Nanticoke you can estimate when it's possible to plant gayfeather by checking out 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.

Since gayfeather are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Nanticoke 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Nanticoke the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Nanticoke and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Nanticoke it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your gayfeather in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Nanticoke

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Nanticoke

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