One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 South Lake Tahoe you can estimate when it's the best time to plant balloon flower by referring to 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 do well in very little cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in South Lake Tahoe is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 August. If you wait any later than that and your balloon flower may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your balloon flower indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in South Lake Tahoe. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for South Lake Tahoe is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in South Lake Tahoe last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your balloon flower in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Lake Tahoe

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in South Lake Tahoe

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Lake Tahoe.