When to Plant Coreopsis in Zone 3a

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 figuring out when it's the best time to plant coreopsis is to look at the USDA zone info for Zone 3a.


Planting Calendar for Coreopsis

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

Coreopsis do well in moderate cold which tells us 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 coreopsis
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant coreopsis
Probably not a good time to plant coreopsis

The earliest that you can plant coreopsis in Zone 3a 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 coreopsis and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your coreopsis may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your coreopsis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Zone 3a the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -40°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 3a and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 3a there is a last frost after May 15 so always be ready to protect your coreopsis if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 3a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-40°F
Highest Expected Low-35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -40°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -35°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 3a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 3a.