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.

By using the USDA zone info for South Boston you will be able to determine when to plant purple coneflower.

Planting Calendar for Purple Coneflower

Frost tolerance for purple coneflower:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since purple coneflower do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in South Boston 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your purple coneflower may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your purple coneflower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in South Boston. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for South Boston and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in South Boston last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your purple coneflower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Boston

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 South Boston

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Boston.