Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out 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 figure out when it's a good idea to plant gaillardia by checking out the USDA zone info for Suffolk.

Planting Calendar for Gaillardia

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

Gaillardia do ok in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Suffolk 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 gaillardia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your gaillardia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gaillardia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Suffolk. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Suffolk may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Suffolk there is a last frost after March 15 so always be ready to cover your gaillardia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Suffolk

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Suffolk

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