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

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant lovage is to use the USDA zone info for Richmond.

Planting Calendar for Lovage

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

Lovage tend to make it in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant lovage 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 lovage and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your lovage may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your lovage indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Richmond there is a last frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your lovage if you have a late frost.

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.