One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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 way of determining when it's the best time to plant caladium is to examine the USDA zone info for Cleveland.

Planting Calendar for Caladium

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

Since caladium do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant caladium in Cleveland 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 caladium and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your caladium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your caladium indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Cleveland. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cleveland is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Cleveland you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your caladium in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cleveland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Cleveland

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