One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 Altoona can be used to estimate when it's the best time to plant fuchsia.

Planting Calendar for Fuchsia

Frost tolerance for fuchsia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You can not plant fuchsia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant fuchsia in Altoona is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant fuchsia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your fuchsia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your fuchsia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Altoona the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Altoona and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Altoona you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your fuchsia if you have a surprise 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.