One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Atlanta you should be able to figure out when it's the best time 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.

Since echinacea are barely cold tolerant you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Atlanta 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. Any later than that and your echinacea may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your echinacea indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Atlanta. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Atlanta is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Atlanta it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your echinacea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Atlanta

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 Atlanta

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