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

One way of determining when it's the best time to plant doronicum is to use the USDA zone info for Richmond.

Planting Calendar for Doronicum

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

Doronicum tend to make it in some cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant doronicum in Richmond is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant doronicum and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your doronicum may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your doronicum indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Richmond. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Richmond is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Richmond you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your doronicum if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

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 Richmond

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