One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A common way of estimating when you can plant violets is to examine the USDA zone info for Fort Collins.

Planting Calendar for Violets

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

Violets tend to make it in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant violets in Fort Collins 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 violets and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your violets may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your violets indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fort Collins. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Fort Collins and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Fort Collins there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your violets if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Collins

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Fort Collins

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Collins.