One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 Bell you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant bougainvillea by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

Frost tolerance for bougainvillea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's a bad idea to plant bougainvillea until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Bell 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 bougainvillea and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your bougainvillea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your bougainvillea indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Bell. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Bell is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Bell you get a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your bougainvillea in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bell

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Bell

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