One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The USDA zone info for Richmond can be reviewed to estimate when it's possible to plant celery.

Planting Calendar for Celery

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

You can plant celery just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant celery in Richmond 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 celery and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your celery may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your celery indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Richmond the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Richmond you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your celery if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

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 Richmond

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