One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 Scottsdale you can figure out when to plant balloon flower by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Balloon Flower

Frost tolerance for balloon flower:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Balloon Flower are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in Scottsdale 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 balloon flower and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your balloon flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your balloon flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Scottsdale. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Scottsdale is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Scottsdale you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your balloon flower if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Scottsdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Scottsdale

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