One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant pansies is to use the USDA zone info for State College.

Planting Calendar for Pansies

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

Pansies do ok in cold weather which tells us that you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pansies in State College 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 pansies and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pansies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pansies indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in State College. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for State College is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in State College last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your pansies if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for State College

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in State College

You may be interested in your other planting guides for State College.