When to Plant Violets in Zone 5a

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

The first chance to plant violets in Zone 5a can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Violets

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

You can plant violets a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant violets in Zone 5a 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 violets and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your violets may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your violets indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Zone 5a. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 5a is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 5a last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your violets if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 5a

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 Zone 5a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 5a.