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

The first opportunity to plant iresene in Bethlehem can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Iresene

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

You should not plant iresene until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant iresene in Bethlehem 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 iresene and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your iresene may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your iresene indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Bethlehem. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Bethlehem is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Bethlehem you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your iresene in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bethlehem

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 Bethlehem

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