The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant columbine is to check out the USDA zone info for Mound.

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 little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Mound is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant columbine and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your columbine may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your columbine indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Mound. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Mound and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Mound it frosts late in the year after May 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your columbine in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mound

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Mound

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