One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant columbine in Port Townsend can be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Columbine are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Port Townsend. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Port Townsend is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Port Townsend you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your columbine if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Port Townsend

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 Port Townsend

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Port Townsend.