One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's possible to plant pansies by reviewing the USDA zone info for Essex Junction.

Planting Calendar for Pansies

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

Pansies tend to make it in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant pansies in Essex Junction 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 pansies and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your pansies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pansies indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Essex Junction the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Essex Junction is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Essex Junction you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your pansies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Essex Junction

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Essex Junction

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Essex Junction.