When to Plant Borage in Tacoma, WA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of getting a good idea when it's possible to plant borage is to look at the USDA zone info for Tacoma.


Planting Calendar for Borage

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

Borage do ok in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant borage
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant borage
Probably not a good time to plant borage

The earliest that you can plant borage in Tacoma 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 borage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your borage may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your borage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Tacoma. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Tacoma and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Tacoma you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your borage in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Tacoma

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 Low15°F
Highest Expected Low20°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 Tacoma

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