One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to estimate when it's possible to plant coral bells by looking at the USDA zone info for Thomson.

Planting Calendar for Coral Bells

Frost tolerance for coral bells:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since coral bells are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant coral bells in Thomson 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 coral bells and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your coral bells may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your coral bells indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Thomson. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Thomson is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Thomson you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your coral bells if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Thomson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Thomson

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