One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Belvidere you will be able to figure out when it's possible to plant bougainvillea.

Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

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

You can not plant bougainvillea until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Belvidere 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. If you wait any later than that and your bougainvillea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bougainvillea indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Belvidere the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Belvidere is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Belvidere last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your bougainvillea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Belvidere

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 Belvidere

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