One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 looking at the USDA zone info for Port Lavaca you will be able to figure out 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.

Since gaillardia are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Port Lavaca 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. If you wait any later than that and your gaillardia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your gaillardia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Port Lavaca. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Port Lavaca and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Port Lavaca there is a last frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your gaillardia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Port Lavaca

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 Port Lavaca

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Port Lavaca.