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

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Columbus it's a good idea to estimate when you can plant torch lilys.

Planting Calendar for Torch Lilys

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

Since torch lilys do well in cold you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant torch lilys 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 torch lilys and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your torch lilys may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your torch lilys indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Columbus. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbus is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Columbus there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your torch lilys 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.