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 getting a good idea when to plant garden mums is to examine the USDA zone info for Ballston Spa.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

Frost tolerance for garden mums:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since garden mums are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums in Ballston Spa is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your garden mums may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your garden mums indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Ballston Spa the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ballston Spa is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ballston Spa you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your garden mums if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ballston Spa

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Ballston Spa

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ballston Spa.