One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

A common way of estimating when to plant gayfeather is to consult the USDA zone info for Manchester.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

Frost tolerance for gayfeather:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since gayfeather do well in cold you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Manchester 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 gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gayfeather may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Manchester the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Manchester and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Manchester it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your gayfeather in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Manchester

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 Manchester

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