One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when you can plant violas is to use the USDA zone info for Andover.

Planting Calendar for Violas

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

Violas tend to make it in a bit of cold which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant violas in Andover 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 violas and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your violas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your violas indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Andover. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Andover is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Andover there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your violas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Andover

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 Low	0°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 Andover

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