One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

You will be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant pansies by referring to the USDA zone info for Springfield.

Planting Calendar for Pansies

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

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

The earliest that you can plant pansies in Springfield 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 pansies and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pansies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your pansies indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Springfield is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Springfield there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your pansies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Springfield

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 Springfield

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