Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Dowagiac can be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

Frost tolerance for columbine:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since columbine do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Dowagiac 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your columbine indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Dowagiac is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Dowagiac there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your columbine in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dowagiac

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 Dowagiac

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