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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Atoka you will be able to estimate when you can plant centaurea.

Planting Calendar for Centaurea

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

Centaurea are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant centaurea in Atoka 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 centaurea and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your centaurea may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your centaurea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Atoka. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Atoka may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Atoka last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your centaurea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Atoka

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Atoka

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