When to Plant Dallas Fern in Columbia, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when to plant dallas fern is to refer to the USDA zone info for Columbia.


Planting Calendar for Dallas Fern

Frost tolerance for dallas fern: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant dallas fern until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant dallas fern in Columbia 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 dallas fern and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your dallas fern may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your dallas fern indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Columbia. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbia is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Columbia it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your dallas fern in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

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

Plants to Grow in Columbia

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