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.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant mecardonia is to refer to the USDA zone info for Big Stone Gap.

Planting Calendar for Mecardonia

Frost tolerance for mecardonia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant mecardonia until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant mecardonia in Big Stone Gap is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant mecardonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your mecardonia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your mecardonia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Big Stone Gap the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Big Stone Gap is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Big Stone Gap last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your mecardonia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Big Stone Gap

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Big Stone Gap

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Big Stone Gap.