Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant gayfeather is to refer to the USDA zone info for Racine.

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 very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Racine 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Racine the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Racine may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Racine there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your gayfeather in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Racine

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

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

Plants to Grow in Racine

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