When to Plant Violas in Zone 1b

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A way of figuring out when you can plant violas is to examine the USDA zone info for Zone 1b.


Planting Calendar for Violas

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

Violas do well in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant violas in Zone 1b is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant violas and expect a good harvest is probably July. If you wait any later than that and your violas may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your violas indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on June 15 in Zone 1b. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -55°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Zone 1b is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 1b you get a frost after June 15 be ready to cover your violas if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 1b

Here is the info for USDA Zone 1b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)June 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)July 15
Lowest Expected Low-55°F
Highest Expected Low-50°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -55°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -50°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 1b

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 1b.