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.

The USDA zone info for Atlantic should be used to determine when it's a good idea to plant columbine.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Columbine can survive in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Atlantic 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 columbine and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your columbine may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your columbine indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Atlantic. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Atlantic and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Atlantic you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your columbine if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Atlantic

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Atlantic

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