One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when to plant columbine is to refer to the USDA zone info for Mascoutah.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Since columbine do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Mascoutah 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 grow to maturity. Starting your columbine indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Mascoutah. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mascoutah is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mascoutah you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your columbine in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mascoutah

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Mascoutah

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