The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant borage is to refer to the USDA zone info for Bethalto.

Planting Calendar for Borage

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

Since borage are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant borage in Bethalto 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 borage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your borage may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your borage indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Bethalto. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Bethalto and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Bethalto you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your borage in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bethalto

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Bethalto

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