When to Plant Caladium in Harrisburg, PA

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.

A way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant caladium is to check out the USDA zone info for Harrisburg.


Planting Calendar for Caladium

Frost tolerance for caladium: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Caladium are not cold tolerant which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant caladium
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant caladium
Probably not a good time to plant caladium

The earliest that you can plant caladium in Harrisburg 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 caladium and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your caladium may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your caladium indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Harrisburg the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Harrisburg is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Harrisburg there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your caladium if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Harrisburg

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°F

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

Plants to Grow in Harrisburg

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