One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 reffered to in order to figure out when it's the best time to plant liatris.

Planting Calendar for Liatris

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

Since liatris are very cold tolerant you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant liatris 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 liatris and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your liatris may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your liatris indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Virginia is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Virginia it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to cover your liatris in the event of a surprise 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.