Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant bougainvillea in Richmond by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

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

Since bougainvillea require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Richmond 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. Any later than that and your bougainvillea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your bougainvillea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Richmond. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Richmond last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your bougainvillea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

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 Richmond

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