One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant platycodon is to check out the USDA zone info for Valparaiso.

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.

Since platycodon do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant platycodon in Valparaiso 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. If you wait any later than that and your platycodon may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your platycodon indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Valparaiso is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Valparaiso you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your platycodon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Valparaiso

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Valparaiso

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