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

A common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant snow-in summer is to check out the USDA zone info for Bend.

Planting Calendar for Snow-in Summer

Frost tolerance for snow-in summer:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since snow-in summer do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant snow-in summer in Bend 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 snow-in summer and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your snow-in summer may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your snow-in summer indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Bend the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bend may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Bend last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your snow-in summer if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bend

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Bend

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