Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Charlottesville you can determine when to plant petunias by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Petunias

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

Petunias do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Charlottesville is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant petunias and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your petunias may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your petunias indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Charlottesville the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Charlottesville is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Charlottesville you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your petunias if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charlottesville

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 Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°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 Charlottesville

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