When to Plant Bougainvillea in Lake Mills, WI

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. 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 Lake Mills should be read to determine when it's the best time to plant bougainvillea.


Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

Frost tolerance for bougainvillea: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant bougainvillea until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant bougainvillea
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant bougainvillea
Probably not a good time to plant bougainvillea

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Lake Mills 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 bougainvillea and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your bougainvillea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bougainvillea indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Lake Mills the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Mills is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Mills you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your bougainvillea if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Mills

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Mills

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Mills.