Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Sparta you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant gaillardia by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gaillardia

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

Gaillardia do ok in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Sparta 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 gaillardia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gaillardia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your gaillardia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Sparta is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Sparta you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your gaillardia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sparta

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 Sparta

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