frostdate name logo in white
frostdate name logo in white

When to Plant Chinese chives in Charleston, SC

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.

In Charleston you can figure out when it's the best time to plant chinese chives by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

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

Chinese chives do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant chinese chives
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant chinese chives
Probably not a good time to plant chinese chives

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in Charleston is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chinese chives and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your chinese chives may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chinese chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Charleston. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Charleston and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Charleston there is a last frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your chinese chives in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

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 Low20°F
Highest Expected Low25°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 Charleston

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