One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant bougainvillea is to check out the USDA zone info for Carnegie.

Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant bougainvillea until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Carnegie 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. If you wait any later than that and 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Carnegie. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Carnegie is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Carnegie it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your bougainvillea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Carnegie

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 Carnegie

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