When to Plant Bougainvillea in Marco Island, FL

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 earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Marco Island should be determined by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

Frost tolerance for bougainvillea: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

Since bougainvillea do not do well in cold weather you need to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant bougainvillea
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant bougainvillea
Probably not a good time to plant bougainvillea

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Marco Island 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 bougainvillea and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bougainvillea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bougainvillea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in Marco Island. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Marco Island may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Marco Island you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your bougainvillea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marco Island

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Marco Island

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Marco Island.