One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 estimate when it's possible to plant celery by referring to the USDA zone info for Springfield.

Planting Calendar for Celery

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

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

The earliest that you can plant celery in Springfield 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 celery and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your celery may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your celery indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Springfield. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Springfield and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Springfield you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your celery if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Springfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

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

Plants to Grow in Springfield

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