One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By using the USDA zone info for De Witt you should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant bougainvillea.

Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

Frost tolerance for bougainvillea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant bougainvillea until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for De Witt is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in De Witt you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your bougainvillea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for De Witt

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 De Witt

You may be interested in your other planting guides for De Witt.