Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Durham you can determine when it's a good idea to plant violas by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Violas

Frost tolerance for violas:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Violas are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant violas in Durham 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 violas and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your violas may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your violas indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Durham the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Durham is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Durham last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your violas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Durham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Durham

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