One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

The USDA zone info for Columbus should be looked at to figure out when it's the best time to plant violets.

Planting Calendar for Violets

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

Since violets are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant violets 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 violets and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your violets may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your violets indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Columbus and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Columbus last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your violets if you have 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.