One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

You can estimate when it's a good idea to plant bougainvillea in Waterloo by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

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

Bougainvillea require warm weather which means that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Waterloo 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bougainvillea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Waterloo. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Waterloo is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Waterloo there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your bougainvillea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waterloo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Waterloo

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