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

A common way of estimating when to plant violas is to refer to the USDA zone info for Rutherford.

Planting Calendar for Violas

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

Since violas are very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant violas 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 violas and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Rutherford. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Rutherford may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Rutherford there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your violas in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.