One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

One way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant bougainvillea is to check out the USDA zone info for Long Branch.

Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

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

Since bougainvillea are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Long Branch 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. If you are starting your bougainvillea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Long Branch. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Long Branch may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Long Branch you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your bougainvillea in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Long Branch

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 Long Branch

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Long Branch.