One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant balloon flower is to consult the USDA zone info for Oak Ridge.

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 do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in Oak Ridge 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your balloon flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Oak Ridge the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Oak Ridge is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Oak Ridge it frosts late in the year 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 Oak Ridge

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 Oak Ridge

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Oak Ridge.