One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 way of figuring out when it's possible to plant balloon flower is to look at the USDA zone info for Laurel.

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.

Balloon Flower can survive in very little cold which tells us that 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 Laurel 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your balloon flower may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your balloon flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Laurel. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Laurel may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Laurel last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your balloon flower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Laurel

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Laurel

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