One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant rudbeckia is to check out the USDA zone info for Clemson.

Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

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

You can plant rudbeckia a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Clemson 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. If you wait any later than that and your rudbeckia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your rudbeckia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Clemson is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Clemson it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your rudbeckia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clemson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Clemson

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