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

In Altoona you can determine when it's a good idea to plant decorative kale by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

Frost tolerance for decorative kale:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Decorative Kale are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Altoona. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Altoona is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Altoona you get a frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your decorative kale if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Altoona

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Altoona

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