Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate 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 determining when to plant columbine is to look at the USDA zone info for Manitowoc.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Columbine do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Manitowoc 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. Any later than that and your columbine may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your columbine 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 Manitowoc. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Manitowoc is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Manitowoc you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your columbine if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Manitowoc

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Manitowoc

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