One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Federal Way it's possible to determine when to plant geum.

Planting Calendar for Geum

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

Geum do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant geum in Federal Way 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 geum and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your geum may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your geum indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Federal Way. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Federal Way is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Federal Way you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your geum if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Federal Way

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Federal Way

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Federal Way.