One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant coral bells is to consult the USDA zone info for Berkeley.

Planting Calendar for Coral Bells

Frost tolerance for coral bells:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant coral bells a little earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant coral bells in Berkeley is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant coral bells and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your coral bells may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your coral bells indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Berkeley. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Berkeley is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Berkeley there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your coral bells in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Berkeley

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 Berkeley

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