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

You can determine when it's the best time to plant hibiscus in Columbus by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hibiscus

Frost tolerance for hibiscus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant hibiscus until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

The last month that you can plant hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your hibiscus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your hibiscus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Columbus. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbus is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Columbus last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your hibiscus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbus

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbus

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