When to Plant Flowering Kale in Arlington, VA

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.

The USDA zone info for Arlington should be used to figure out when you can plant flowering kale.


Planting Calendar for Flowering Kale

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

Since flowering kale are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale 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 flowering kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your flowering kale may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your flowering kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Arlington. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Arlington may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Arlington it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your flowering kale if you have a surprise late frost.

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.