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.

A way of getting a good idea when it's possible to plant bleeding hearts is to examine the USDA zone info for Shelbyville.

Planting Calendar for Bleeding Hearts

Frost tolerance for bleeding hearts:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Bleeding Hearts are barely cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant bleeding hearts in Shelbyville is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant bleeding hearts and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bleeding hearts may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bleeding hearts indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Shelbyville. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Shelbyville is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Shelbyville it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your bleeding hearts in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Shelbyville

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 Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°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 Shelbyville

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