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.

The earliest that you can plant violets in Richmond can be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Violets

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

Violets are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant violets in Richmond 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 violets and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your violets may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your violets 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 just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Richmond there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your violets if you have a surprise 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.