Black-eyed Susan · Arequipa, Arequipa, Peru
When to sow black-eyed susans in Arequipa
Main outdoor window
2-30 Sep
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
19 August
In Arequipa, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
29 Dec - 30 Apr
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 Arequipa
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
14 Oct - 11 Nov
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
2-30 Sep
Two weeks after your last frost.
In flower
29 Dec - 30 Apr
Black-eyed Susans through the year
Against the frost risk in Arequipa
Why these dates
Plant out after the last frost. Sow indoors eight weeks earlier if growing from seed. Self-seeds moderately once settled, and the seedlings are worth keeping. Cut back hard after flowering or leave the heads standing for winter structure.
Hardy to -30C. Frost on the emerging spring foliage does no lasting damage, and the plant is fully dormant through winter.
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. Black-eyed Susans are timed from 8 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 Arequipa.
Arequipa sits in zone 10a, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.
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 Arequipa
Other flowers to time
Growing black-eyed susans in Arequipa
When should I plant black-eyed susans in Arequipa?
Aim for 2-30 Sep in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 23 Sep - 21 Oct - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will black-eyed susans be ready to harvest in Arequipa?
Expect to start picking around 29 Dec - 30 Apr, based on 100 to 130 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will black-eyed susans tolerate?
Hardy to -30C. Frost on the emerging spring foliage does no lasting damage, and the plant is fully dormant through winter.