Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Charlotte should be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant bougainvillea until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Charlotte 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. If you wait any later than that and your bougainvillea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your bougainvillea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Charlotte. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Charlotte is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Charlotte you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your bougainvillea in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charlotte

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 Charlotte

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