Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Cottonwood you can determine when to plant columbine by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Columbine can survive in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Cottonwood 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 little bit earlier by starting your columbine indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Cottonwood and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Cottonwood last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your columbine if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cottonwood

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 Cottonwood

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