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.

The USDA zone info for Giddings should be reviewed to figure out when 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.

Echinacea are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Giddings 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your echinacea indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Giddings the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Giddings may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Giddings you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your echinacea if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Giddings

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Giddings

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