One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Alexandria you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant echinacea by checking out the USDA zone info.

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 do ok in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Alexandria 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. If you wait any later than that and your echinacea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your echinacea indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Alexandria the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Alexandria may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Alexandria it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your echinacea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alexandria

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Alexandria

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