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

The best time to plant garden mums in Columbus can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

Frost tolerance for garden mums:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Garden Mums tend to make it in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums in Columbus 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 garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your garden mums may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your garden mums indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Columbus may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Columbus it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your garden mums if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbus

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Columbus

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