One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

The first opportunity to plant hosta in Altoona should be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hosta

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

Hosta are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant hosta 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 hosta and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your hosta may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your hosta indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Altoona is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Altoona you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your hosta 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.