One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's the best time to plant violas in Bismarck by checking out 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.

Since violas are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

The last month that you can plant violas and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your violas may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your violas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Bismarck. It might get as low as -30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bismarck is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Bismarck there is a last frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your violas if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bismarck

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Bismarck

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