Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Oil City it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant rudbeckia.

Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

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

Rudbeckia do ok in moderate cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Oil City 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 really do well. If you are starting your rudbeckia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Oil City the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Oil City is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Oil City last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your rudbeckia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oil City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Oil City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Oil City.