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 determining when to plant gaillardia is to check out the USDA zone info for Zone 9a.

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.

Since gaillardia do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Zone 9a 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 gaillardia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your gaillardia may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your gaillardia indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Zone 9a. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Zone 9a is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 9a you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your gaillardia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 9a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 9a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 9a.