One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant fanflower is to examine the USDA zone info for Abilene.

Planting Calendar for Fanflower

Frost tolerance for fanflower:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably not a good idea to plant fanflower until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

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

The last month that you can plant fanflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your fanflower may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your fanflower indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Abilene. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Abilene is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Abilene there is a last frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your fanflower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Abilene

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Abilene

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