When to Plant Celery in Washington, DC

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Washington can be looked at to determine when to plant celery.


Planting Calendar for Celery

Frost tolerance for celery: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since celery are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant celery
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant celery
Probably not a good time to plant celery

The earliest that you can plant celery in Washington is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant celery and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your celery may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your celery indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Washington. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Washington 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 Washington it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your celery in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Washington

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Washington

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