Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant platycodon is to check out the USDA zone info for Fort Collins.

Planting Calendar for Platycodon

Frost tolerance for platycodon:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Platycodon do well in some cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant platycodon in Fort Collins 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 platycodon and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your platycodon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your platycodon indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fort Collins. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Fort Collins is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Fort Collins you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your platycodon if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Collins

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 Fort Collins

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Collins.