One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 platycodon by checking out the USDA zone info.

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 are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant platycodon in Altoona 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 platycodon and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your platycodon may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your platycodon indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Altoona is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Altoona last frost occurs after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your platycodon in the event of 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.