One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 Virginia can be looked at to determine when to plant hosta.

Planting Calendar for Hosta

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

You can plant hosta just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant hosta in Virginia 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 hosta and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hosta may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hosta indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Virginia. You should expect an average low temperature of -35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Virginia may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Virginia there is a last frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your hosta in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Virginia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-35°F
Highest Expected Low	-30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -30°F.

Plants to Grow in Virginia

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