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.

By using the USDA zone info for Gainesville you should be able to figure out when it's possible to plant arctotis.

Planting Calendar for Arctotis

Frost tolerance for arctotis:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Arctotis can survive in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant arctotis in Gainesville 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 arctotis and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your arctotis may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your arctotis indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Gainesville. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Gainesville may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Gainesville you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your arctotis in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gainesville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Gainesville

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