One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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 Rapid City can be used to estimate when to plant black eyed susans.

Planting Calendar for Black Eyed Susans

Frost tolerance for black eyed susans:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Black Eyed Susans do not do well in cold weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black eyed susans in Rapid City is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant black eyed susans and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your black eyed susans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your black eyed susans indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rapid 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 -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Rapid City is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Rapid City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your black eyed susans if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rapid City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rapid City

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