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

A way of making a decision about when to plant columbine is to look at the USDA zone info for Rutherford.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Columbine are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

In Rutherford the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Rutherford may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rutherford last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your columbine in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rutherford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Rutherford

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