One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 Harlingen should be reffered to in order to estimate when it's the best time to plant gaillardia.

Planting Calendar for Gaillardia

Frost tolerance for gaillardia:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Gaillardia are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Harlingen 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 gaillardia and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gaillardia may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your gaillardia indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Harlingen. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Harlingen is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Harlingen there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your gaillardia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Harlingen

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Harlingen

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