One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Helena you can figure out when it's possible to plant geranium by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Geranium

Frost tolerance for geranium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Geranium require warm weather which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant geranium in Helena is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant geranium and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your geranium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your geranium indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Helena. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Helena may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Helena it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your geranium if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Helena

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Helena

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Helena.