One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant bleeding hearts is to consult the USDA zone info for Winter Garden.

Planting Calendar for Bleeding Hearts

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

Since bleeding hearts are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant bleeding hearts in Winter Garden 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 bleeding hearts and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your bleeding hearts may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your bleeding hearts indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Winter Garden. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Winter Garden may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Winter Garden there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your bleeding hearts if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Winter Garden

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Winter Garden

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Winter Garden.