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.

The first chance to plant gladiolus in Columbia should be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gladiolus

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

Since gladiolus are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gladiolus in Columbia is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant gladiolus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gladiolus may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your gladiolus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Columbia. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Columbia and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Columbia it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your gladiolus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Columbia

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 Columbia

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