Coneflower · Qujing, Yunnan, China
When to sow coneflowers in Qujing
Main outdoor window
12 Mar - 9 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
26 February
In Qujing, 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 Qujing
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
7 May - 4 Jun
Ten weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
12 Mar - 9 Apr
Two weeks after your last frost.
In flower
1 Jul - 30 Sep
Coneflowers through the year
Against the frost risk in Qujing
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 Qujing.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Qujing is zone 9a, 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 Qujing
Other flowers to time
Growing coneflowers in Qujing
When should I plant coneflowers in Qujing?
Aim for 12 Mar - 9 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 29 Mar - 26 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will coneflowers be ready to harvest in Qujing?
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.