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.

One way of getting a good idea when to plant balloon flower is to consult the USDA zone info for Shawano.

Planting Calendar for Balloon Flower

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

Since balloon flower do ok in moderate cold you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in Shawano 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 balloon flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your balloon flower may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your balloon flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Shawano. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Shawano is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Shawano it frosts late in the year after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your balloon flower if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Shawano

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 Shawano

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