One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Mount Vernon you should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant balloon flower.

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.

Since balloon flower do ok in moderate cold you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in Mount Vernon 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. Any later than that and your balloon flower may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your balloon flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Mount Vernon. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mount Vernon is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Mount Vernon there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your balloon flower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Vernon

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 Mount Vernon

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Vernon.