Coneflower · Baoding, Hebei, China
When to sow coneflowers in Baoding
Main outdoor window
15 Apr - 13 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
1 April
In Baoding, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jul - 30 Sep
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Baoding
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
10 Jun - 8 Jul
Ten weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
15 Apr - 13 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
In flower
1 Jul - 30 Sep
Coneflowers through the year
Against the frost risk in Baoding
Why these dates
Plant out after the last frost, or sow indoors ten weeks before it - seed germinates better after a few weeks of cold, so autumn sowing outdoors works too. Expect leaves in year one and a full display in year two. Leave the stems standing over winter for the birds and cut them down in spring.
Hardy to -30C. Dislikes winter wet far more than winter cold, and the commonest cause of loss is a heavy soil that stays saturated rather than a hard freeze.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Coneflowers are timed from 10 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Baoding.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Baoding is zone 7a, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 1, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in Baoding
Other flowers to time
Growing coneflowers in Baoding
When should I plant coneflowers in Baoding?
Aim for 15 Apr - 13 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 27 Apr - 25 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will coneflowers be ready to harvest in Baoding?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jul - 30 Sep, based on 110 to 140 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will coneflowers tolerate?
Hardy to -30C. Dislikes winter wet far more than winter cold, and the commonest cause of loss is a heavy soil that stays saturated rather than a hard freeze.