Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. 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 Brighton can be looked at to estimate when it's possible 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 are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Brighton 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 Brighton. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Brighton and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Brighton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your columbine if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Brighton

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 Brighton

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