One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Collegedale it's a good idea to estimate when to plant echinacea.

Planting Calendar for Echinacea

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

Echinacea do well in mild cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Collegedale is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Collegedale is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Collegedale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your echinacea in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Collegedale

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 Collegedale

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