One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Richmond it's possible to estimate when it's a good idea to plant lenten rose.

Planting Calendar for Lenten Rose

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

Lenten Rose are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant lenten rose in Richmond is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant lenten rose and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lenten rose may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your lenten rose indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Richmond. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Richmond and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Richmond last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your lenten rose in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

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 Richmond

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