🌸 When to Plant Columbine
Delicate spurred flowers; self-seeds freely; hummingbird favorite; drought-tolerant
📅 Planting Calendar by USDA Zone
Columbine is a cool-season crop — plant it around your last spring frost, and you can often start it earlier indoors or sow again for a fall harvest. Find the exact start-indoors, transplant, and direct-sow dates for your USDA zone in the table below.
Select your zone to highlight your dates. All dates are calculated from each zone's average frost dates — see how we calculate them.
| Zone | Last Frost | Start Indoors | Transplant | Direct Sow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 2A | May 30 | Mar 21 | May 2 | Apr 18 |
| Zone 3B | May 15 | Mar 6 | Apr 17 | Apr 3 |
| Zone 4A | May 8 | Feb 27 | Apr 10 | Mar 27 |
| Zone 4B | May 1 | Feb 20 | Apr 3 | Mar 20 |
| Zone 5A | Apr 25 | Feb 14 | Mar 28 | Mar 14 |
| Zone 5B | Apr 18 | Feb 7 | Mar 21 | Mar 7 |
| Zone 6A | Apr 21 | Feb 10 | Mar 24 | Mar 10 |
| Zone 6B | Apr 10 | Jan 30 | Mar 13 | Feb 27 |
| Zone 7A | Apr 5 | Jan 25 | Mar 8 | Feb 22 |
| Zone 7B | Mar 28 | Jan 17 | Feb 28 | Feb 14 |
| Zone 8A | Mar 20 | Jan 9 | Feb 20 | Feb 6 |
| Zone 8B | Mar 12 | Jan 1 | Feb 12 | Jan 29 |
| Zone 9A | Feb 28 | Dec 20 | Jan 31 | Jan 17 |
| Zone 9B | Feb 15 | Dec 7 | Jan 18 | Jan 4 |
| Zone 10A | Feb 1 | Nov 23 | Jan 4 | Dec 21 |
| Zone 10B | Jan 15 | Nov 6 | Dec 18 | Dec 4 |
| Zone 11A | Jan 1 | Oct 23 | Dec 4 | Nov 20 |
Columbines are elegant, woodland-edge perennials with distinctive spurred flowers beloved by hummingbirds and long-tongued bumblebees.
Top Growing Tips
- Self-seeds freely and naturalizes; new seedlings often create unexpected color combinations
- Drought-tolerant once established; prefers partial shade in hot climates
- Cut back foliage to ground after flowering — fresh new leaves emerge
- Hummingbirds are primary pollinators of long-spurred species
- Short-lived perennial (3-5 years) but self-seeds to maintain colony
Companion Planting
Good companions: ferns, hostas, bleeding heart, astilbe
Avoid planting near: Hot, dry, full-sun sites in zones 7+
Harvest Timeline
Ornamental; harvest seed pods when mature for replanting
Growing columbine in your region?
These dates come from your zone's frost windows. For the full month-by-month plan — succession sowing, variety picks, and timing tuned to your climate, not just your zone — our regional vegetable-gardening guides cover your area start to finish.
Find your regional growing guide