One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant coral bells is to refer to the USDA zone info for Malden.

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 do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant coral bells in Malden 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. Any later than that and your coral bells may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your coral bells indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Malden. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Malden may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Malden there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your coral bells if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Malden

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 Malden

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