One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when you can plant columbine is to look at the USDA zone info for Crystal City.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Since columbine are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Crystal City 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 columbine and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your columbine may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your columbine indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Crystal City the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Crystal City and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Crystal City last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your columbine if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Crystal City

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 Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°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 Crystal City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Crystal City.