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.

The best time to plant begonias in Erie should be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Begonias

Frost tolerance for begonias:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant begonias until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant begonias in Erie is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant begonias and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your begonias may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your begonias indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Erie. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Erie is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Erie you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your begonias in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Erie

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Erie

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