One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

It's a good idea to estimate when you can plant violas by looking at the USDA zone info for Swarthmore.

Planting Calendar for Violas

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

Since violas do well in cold you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant violas in Swarthmore 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 violas and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your violas may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your violas indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Swarthmore. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Swarthmore may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Swarthmore you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your violas in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Swarthmore

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Swarthmore

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