The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant dipladenia is to examine the USDA zone info for Columbia.

Planting Calendar for Dipladenia

Frost tolerance for dipladenia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Dipladenia require warm weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

In Columbia the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Columbia and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Columbia you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your dipladenia if you have a surprise 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.