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

You will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant scabiosa by referring to the USDA zone info for Columbus.

Planting Calendar for Scabiosa

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

Scabiosa do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant scabiosa in Columbus 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 scabiosa and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your scabiosa may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your scabiosa indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Columbus. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbus is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Columbus you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your scabiosa in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbus

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Columbus

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