One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

The first chance to plant gayfeather in Charlottesville can be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

Frost tolerance for gayfeather:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Gayfeather do well in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Charlottesville 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 gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your gayfeather indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Charlottesville the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Charlottesville is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Charlottesville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your gayfeather in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charlottesville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Charlottesville

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