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

A way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant pansies is to look at the USDA zone info for Northfield.

Planting Calendar for Pansies

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

Pansies can survive in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pansies in Northfield 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 pansies and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pansies may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pansies indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Northfield. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Northfield is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Northfield you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your pansies if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Northfield

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 Northfield

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