One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Columbia you can determine when to plant thyme by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Thyme

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

Thyme are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Columbia 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 thyme and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your thyme may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your thyme indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Columbia. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

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 Columbia and it is different every year. Half of the time in Columbia it frosts late in the year after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your thyme if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbia

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