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 will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant platycodon by checking out the USDA zone info for Columbus.

Planting Calendar for Platycodon

Frost tolerance for platycodon:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

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

The earliest that you can plant platycodon in Columbus 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 platycodon and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your platycodon may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your platycodon indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Columbus may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Columbus it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your platycodon if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Columbus

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 Columbus

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