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.

The USDA zone info for Philadelphia should be reffered to in order to estimate when to plant scarlet runner beans.

Planting Calendar for Scarlet Runner Beans

Frost tolerance for scarlet runner beans:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since scarlet runner beans do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Philadelphia. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind 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 Philadelphia and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Philadelphia there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your scarlet runner beans if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Philadelphia

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 Philadelphia

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