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

It's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant columbine by looking at the USDA zone info for Mcalester.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Since columbine do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Mcalester 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your columbine indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Mcalester. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mcalester is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Mcalester it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your columbine if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mcalester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Mcalester

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