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.

It's a good idea to determine when to plant columbine by looking at the USDA zone info for Chino Valley.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Since columbine are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Chino Valley 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 columbine and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

In Chino Valley the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Chino Valley is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Chino Valley you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your columbine if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chino Valley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Chino Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Chino Valley.