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 possible to figure out when you can plant pansies by reviewing the USDA zone info for Seattle.

Planting Calendar for Pansies

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

Pansies do well in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant pansies in Seattle 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. If you wait any later than that and your pansies may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your pansies indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Seattle. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Seattle is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Seattle you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your pansies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Seattle

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 Seattle

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