One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

In Gatlinburg you can figure out when it's the best time to plant purple coneflower by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Purple Coneflower

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

Purple Coneflower do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Gatlinburg 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your purple coneflower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your purple coneflower indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Gatlinburg. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Gatlinburg may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Gatlinburg you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your purple coneflower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Gatlinburg

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Gatlinburg

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