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 USDA zone info for Charleston can be used to figure out when to plant gerbera.

Planting Calendar for Gerbera

Frost tolerance for gerbera:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Gerbera tend to make it in very little cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gerbera in Charleston 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 gerbera and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your gerbera may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your gerbera indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Charleston. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Charleston is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Charleston it frosts late in the year after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your gerbera in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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