Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when it's the best time to plant balloon flower by looking at the USDA zone info for Loves Park.

Planting Calendar for Balloon Flower

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

You can plant balloon flower a bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in Loves Park 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 balloon flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your balloon flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your balloon flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Loves Park. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Loves Park and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Loves Park it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your balloon flower in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Loves Park

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 Loves Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Loves Park.