One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant balloon flower is to look at the USDA zone info for Sebastopol.

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.

You can plant balloon flower slightly earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in Sebastopol 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. If you wait any later than that and your balloon flower may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your balloon flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Sebastopol. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sebastopol and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Sebastopol you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your balloon flower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sebastopol

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Sebastopol

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