One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Atascadero you can figure out when it's the best time to plant columbine by looking at 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 do ok in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Atascadero 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 fully mature. If you are starting your columbine indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Atascadero. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Atascadero is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Atascadero it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your columbine if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Atascadero

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Atascadero

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