When to Plant Centaurea in Zone 2b

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant centaurea is to check out the USDA zone info for Zone 2b.


Planting Calendar for Centaurea

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

Centaurea are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant centaurea in Zone 2b is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant centaurea and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your centaurea may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your centaurea indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Zone 2b the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -45°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 2b is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Zone 2b there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your centaurea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 2b

Here is the info for USDA Zone 2b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)August 15
Lowest Expected Low-45°F
Highest Expected Low-40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -45°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -40°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 2b

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