Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when you can plant scabiosa is to use the USDA zone info for Ripley.

Planting Calendar for Scabiosa

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

Scabiosa can survive in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant scabiosa in Ripley 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 scabiosa and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your scabiosa may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your scabiosa indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ripley. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ripley is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ripley you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your scabiosa in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ripley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Ripley

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