One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Columbia City you should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant pansies.

Planting Calendar for Pansies

Frost tolerance for pansies:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Pansies are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pansies in Columbia City 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 pansies and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your pansies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your pansies indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Columbia City may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Columbia City you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your pansies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Columbia City

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