One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The USDA zone info for New Paltz can be reffered to in order to determine when to plant balloon flower.

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 start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in New Paltz 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your balloon flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for New Paltz is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in New Paltz you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your balloon flower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for New Paltz

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in New Paltz

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Paltz.