One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Ripon you should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant violas.

Planting Calendar for Violas

Frost tolerance for violas:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Violas are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant violas in Ripon 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 violas and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your violas may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your violas indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Ripon. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Ripon may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Ripon it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your violas in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ripon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Ripon

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