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.

In Altoona you can determine when it's a good idea to plant purple bell vines by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Purple Bell Vines

Frost tolerance for purple bell vines:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Purple Bell Vines are barely cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant purple bell vines 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 purple bell vines and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your purple bell vines may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your purple bell vines indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost 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 is different every year. Since half of the time in Altoona last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to protect your purple bell vines if you have one of those late frosts.

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.