One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 Richmond you can determine when to plant chinese chives by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

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

Chinese chives do well in moderate 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 chinese chives in Richmond 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. Starting your chinese chives indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Richmond. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Richmond is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Richmond you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your chinese chives if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

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 Richmond

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