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When to plant rhubarb

Plant rhubarb out 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost.

Your dates for rhubarb

Set your ZIP code at the top of the page and we will work out when to plant rhubarb where you live, from the frost records of the nearest NOAA weather station. Your ZIP code is remembered on this device only.

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Rhubarb planting dates by zone

JFMAMJJASOND Zone 4b Zone 5b Zone 6b Zone 7b Zone 8b Zone 9a
Plant outDates use each zone's typical frost dates. Enter your ZIP code for your own.
Dates from each zone's typical (median) frost dates.
ZonePlant out
Zone 2aApr 7 to 21
Zone 3aApr 14 to 28
Zone 3bApr 5 to 19
Zone 4aApr 1 to 15
Zone 4bMar 27 to Apr 10
Zone 5aMar 22 to Apr 5
Zone 5bMar 20 to Apr 3
Zone 6aMar 18 to Apr 1
Zone 6bMar 12 to 26
Zone 7aMar 5 to 19
Zone 7bFeb 22 to Mar 8
Zone 8aFeb 15 to Mar 1
Zone 8bFeb 3 to 17
Zone 9aJan 19 to Feb 2
Zone 9bDec 20 to Jan 3

Spring dates before the last frost assume the soil has thawed and is dry enough to work. After a late or wet spring, wait for that even if the date has passed.

Where frost is rare

Rhubarb needs cold winters and cool summers, so it usually fails as a perennial in the Deep South. In Texas it can be grown as a cool-season annual from seed: start it in late summer, set plants out in fall, and harvest in late winter and spring.

ZonePlanting months in Extension guides
Zone 9Sow seed indoors mid-late Aug; transplant late Sep-early Oct; harvest about Mar-May (grown as an annual, central Texas)

Based on Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Travis County, 'Rhubarb - Texas Style' (Austin area, about zone 8b-9a, used here for zone_9). Texas A&M Aggie Horticulture states rhubarb does not grow well as a perennial anywhere in Texas. No Florida, Arizona, California or Hawaii extension timing was found; the UF/IFAS rhubarb publication has been withdrawn. Warm-winter areas are matched to zones approximately, so use the months for your region.

How to grow rhubarbYour full planting calendar

Sources