One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant bougainvillea is to consult the USDA zone info for Ilion.

Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

Frost tolerance for bougainvillea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since bougainvillea do not do well in cold weather it is important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Ilion 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bougainvillea may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bougainvillea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Ilion. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Ilion is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ilion it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your bougainvillea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ilion

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 Ilion

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