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.

You will be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant gaillardia by using the USDA zone info for Smithfield.

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 one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Smithfield 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 gaillardia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your gaillardia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your gaillardia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Smithfield. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Smithfield is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Smithfield you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your gaillardia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Smithfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Smithfield

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