The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant pansies is to examine the USDA zone info for Fairfax.

Planting Calendar for Pansies

Frost tolerance for pansies:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Pansies do ok in a bit of cold which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant pansies in Fairfax 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 pansies and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your pansies may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your pansies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Fairfax. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Fairfax is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Fairfax last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your pansies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fairfax

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 Fairfax

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