One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Benson you can determine when it's possible to plant violets by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Violets

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

You can plant violets just a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

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

The last month that you can plant violets and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your violets may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your violets indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Benson the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Benson is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Benson you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your violets if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Benson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Benson

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