One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The USDA zone info for Council Bluffs should be reviewed to estimate when it's the best time to plant petunias.

Planting Calendar for Petunias

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

Petunias do well in some cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Council Bluffs 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 petunias and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your petunias may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your petunias indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Council Bluffs. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Council Bluffs is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Council Bluffs you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your petunias if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Council Bluffs

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

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

Plants to Grow in Council Bluffs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Council Bluffs.