One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant balloon flower by checking out the USDA zone info for Forest City.

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 are barely cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in Forest City 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. If you wait any later than that and your balloon flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your balloon flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Forest City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Forest City is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Forest City you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your balloon flower in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Forest City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Forest City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Forest City.