When to Plant Purple Coneflower in Zone 2b

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening 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 determining when it's a good idea to plant purple coneflower is to refer to the USDA zone info for Zone 2b.


Planting Calendar for Purple Coneflower

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

Purple Coneflower do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Zone 2b 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your purple coneflower may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your purple coneflower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Zone 2b. You should expect an average low temperature of -45°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 2b and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 2b last frost occurs after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your purple coneflower if you have a 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.