One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 USDA zone info for Providence should be used to determine when you can plant platycodon.

Planting Calendar for Platycodon

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

Platycodon do well in some cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant platycodon in Providence 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 platycodon and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your platycodon may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your platycodon indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Providence. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Providence is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Providence you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your platycodon if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Providence

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Providence

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