One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 referring to the USDA zone info for Kalamazoo you should be able to figure out 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 are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in Kalamazoo 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your balloon flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Kalamazoo. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Kalamazoo and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Kalamazoo you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your balloon flower in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Kalamazoo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Kalamazoo

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