One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Columbia you should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant geum.

Planting Calendar for Geum

Frost tolerance for geum:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Geum do well in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Columbia. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbia is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Columbia you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your geum in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbia

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