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

The USDA zone info for Altoona should be looked at to figure out when it's a good idea to plant scarlet pimpernels.

Planting Calendar for Scarlet Pimpernels

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

You can plant scarlet pimpernels a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant scarlet pimpernels 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 scarlet pimpernels and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your scarlet pimpernels may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your scarlet pimpernels indoors.

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.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Altoona is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Altoona it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your scarlet pimpernels 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.