One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Dayton should be estimated by using 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 means that you can plant them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Dayton 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your purple coneflower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your purple coneflower indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Dayton. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Dayton is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Dayton last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your purple coneflower if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dayton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Dayton

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