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.

One way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant achimenes is to look at the USDA zone info for Columbus.

Planting Calendar for Achimenes

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant achimenes until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant achimenes in Columbus 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 achimenes and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your achimenes may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your achimenes indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Columbus the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbus is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Columbus there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your achimenes in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbus

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbus

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