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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Fairfax it's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant columbine.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

Frost tolerance for columbine:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Columbine do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Fairfax is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant columbine and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your columbine may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your columbine indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Fairfax. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Fairfax may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Fairfax you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your columbine if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fairfax

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairfax

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