One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 estimate when you can plant pansies in Columbus by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pansies

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

Pansies do well in cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Columbus. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Columbus may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Columbus it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your pansies in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.