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.

A common way of figuring out when you can plant geranium is to use the USDA zone info for Altoona.

Planting Calendar for Geranium

Frost tolerance for geranium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since geranium require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant geranium in Altoona 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 geranium and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your geranium may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your geranium indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Altoona may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Altoona you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your geranium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Altoona

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 Altoona

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