One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Newport you can determine when it's the best time to plant rudbeckia by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

Frost tolerance for rudbeckia:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant rudbeckia a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Newport 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 rudbeckia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your rudbeckia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your rudbeckia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Newport. You can expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Newport is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Newport last frost occurs after May 15 so always be ready to protect your rudbeckia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Newport

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Newport

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