Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Columbia it's a good idea to estimate when you can plant ornamental grasses.

Planting Calendar for Ornamental Grasses

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

You can plant ornamental grasses slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Columbia. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbia may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Columbia it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your ornamental grasses in the event of a surprise 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.