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.

It's a good idea to determine when it's possible to plant cuphea by checking out the USDA zone info for Columbia.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

Frost tolerance for cuphea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant cuphea until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cuphea in Columbia is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cuphea and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cuphea may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cuphea indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Columbia may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Columbia there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your cuphea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbia

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