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

The USDA zone info for Monticello should be read to determine when it's a good idea to plant coral bells.

Planting Calendar for Coral Bells

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

Since coral bells are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant coral bells in Monticello 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your coral bells indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Monticello. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Monticello

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 Monticello

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