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.

A way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant painted tongues is to look at the USDA zone info for Altoona.

Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

Frost tolerance for painted tongues:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Painted Tongues require warm weather which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant painted tongues in Altoona is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant painted tongues and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your painted tongues may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your painted tongues indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Altoona. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Altoona is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Altoona you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your painted tongues if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Altoona

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Altoona

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