One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 North Manchester can be looked at 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 tend to make it in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in North Manchester 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. Any later than that and your columbine may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your columbine indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in North Manchester. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for North Manchester may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in North Manchester it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your columbine if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for North Manchester

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 North Manchester

You may be interested in your other planting guides for North Manchester.