One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant chinese chives is to examine the USDA zone info for Piedmont.

Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

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

Since chinese chives are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in Piedmont 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 chinese chives and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your chinese chives may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your chinese chives indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Piedmont the average date of last frost happens on January 31. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Piedmont is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Piedmont you get a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your chinese chives if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Piedmont

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Piedmont

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