One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant violas by checking out the USDA zone info for Portsmouth.

Planting Calendar for Violas

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

Violas do ok in a bit of cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant violas in Portsmouth 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. Any later than that and your violas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your violas indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Portsmouth. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Portsmouth and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Portsmouth it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your violas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portsmouth

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Portsmouth

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