Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant columbine in Potsdam by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Since columbine are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Potsdam is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant columbine and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your columbine may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your columbine indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Potsdam. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Potsdam and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Potsdam there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your columbine if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Potsdam

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Potsdam

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