One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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.

The USDA zone info for Independence can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's the best time to plant violas.

Planting Calendar for Violas

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

Since violas are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant violas in Independence 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. If you wait any later than that and your violas may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your violas indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Independence. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Independence may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Independence there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your violas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Independence

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Independence

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