When to Plant Gayfeather in Fairfax, VA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to estimate when you can plant gayfeather by using the USDA zone info for Fairfax.


Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

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

Since gayfeather are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant gayfeather
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant gayfeather
Probably not a good time to plant gayfeather

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Fairfax 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gayfeather may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fairfax. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Fairfax is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Fairfax last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your gayfeather if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fairfax

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 Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°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 Fairfax

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