When to Plant Columbine in Arlington, VA

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

The first chance to plant columbine in Arlington can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Columbine do well in mild cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant columbine
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant columbine
Probably not a good time to plant columbine

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Arlington 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 columbine and expect a good harvest is probably September. 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 little bit earlier by starting your columbine indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Arlington may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Arlington you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your columbine in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Arlington

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 Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°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 Arlington

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