Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant peonies is to refer to the USDA zone info for Altoona.

Planting Calendar for Peonies

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

Peonies are barely cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant peonies in Altoona 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your peonies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your peonies indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Altoona and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Altoona you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your peonies in the event of 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.