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

A way of figuring out when you can plant bleeding hearts is to use the USDA zone info for Madison.

Planting Calendar for Bleeding Hearts

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

Bleeding Hearts are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant bleeding hearts in Madison 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 bleeding hearts and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your bleeding hearts may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bleeding hearts indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Madison. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Madison is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Madison it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your bleeding hearts if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Madison

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