One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

The USDA zone info for Elkhorn can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's a good idea to plant bleeding hearts.

Planting Calendar for Bleeding Hearts

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

Since bleeding hearts do ok in moderate cold you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant bleeding hearts in Elkhorn 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 bleeding hearts and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your bleeding hearts may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your bleeding hearts indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Elkhorn. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elkhorn is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Elkhorn it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your bleeding hearts if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elkhorn

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Elkhorn

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