One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when to plant balloon flower is to use the USDA zone info for Lompoc.

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.

Since balloon flower do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in Lompoc 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your balloon flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Lompoc. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Lompoc is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Lompoc last frost occurs after February 15 so always be ready to protect your balloon flower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lompoc

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 Lompoc

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