When to Plant Gaillardia in Zone 2a

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant gaillardia is to examine the USDA zone info for Zone 2a.


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.

You can plant gaillardia just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Zone 2a is May. However, you really should wait until June 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gaillardia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Zone 2a the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -50°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 2a is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 2a it frosts late in the year after May 15 so always be ready to cover your gaillardia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 2a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 2a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)August 15
Lowest Expected Low-50°F
Highest Expected Low-45°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -50°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -45°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 2a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 2a.