One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A common way of figuring out when to plant balloon flower is to refer to the USDA zone info for La Plata.

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 are barely cold tolerant you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in La Plata 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your balloon flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In La Plata the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for La Plata is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in La Plata it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your balloon flower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for La Plata

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in La Plata

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Plata.