One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

In Laurel you can determine when it's the best time to plant bougainvillea by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

Frost tolerance for bougainvillea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Bougainvillea require warm weather which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Laurel is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant bougainvillea and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your bougainvillea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bougainvillea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Laurel the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Laurel is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Laurel it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your bougainvillea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Laurel

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 Laurel

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