One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant columbine is to check out the USDA zone info for Sturtevant.

Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Columbine do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Sturtevant 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your columbine may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your columbine indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Sturtevant is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Sturtevant you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your columbine if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sturtevant

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 Sturtevant

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