When to Plant Green Beans in Virginia: Spring and Fall Dates by Zone
Planting dates for green beans from Virginia Cooperative Extension in Virginia, with 50% frost dates from NOAA for Roanoke Regional Airport, Charlottesville Airport, and Richmond International Airport and one worked case.
Updated
Figures checked against their sources on ; next check .
Virginia Cooperative Extension gives green beans their own row under the heading “Beans, snap”, with dates for 6 zones. Across the rows, the first date to appear is March 20 (Zone 8b) and the last is May 15 (Zone 6a), 56 days apart. A reader has to infer from the packet whether these dates are for seed or for transplants, since the row does not say.
The green bean windows by zone
Table 5 of the same guide puts bush beans at 10 plants per person, with 4 plantings in spring and summer and none in fall.
A footnote on the row reads “Plant multiple successions to extend cropping season.”
| Zone | Spring planting | Fall planting |
|---|---|---|
| Zone 6a | May 15-June 15 | June 15-July 15 |
| Zone 6b | May 5-June 25 | June 25-July 25 |
| Zone 7a | April 20-June 10 | June 10-Aug 1 |
| Zone 7b | April 10-June 10 | June 10-Aug 10 |
| Zone 8a | April 1-July 1 | July 1-Aug 20 |
| Zone 8b | March 20-July 1 | July 1-Sept 1 |
How the Virginia calendar is built
Virginia Cooperative Extension builds its planting guide on USDA hardiness zones, from 6a to 8b, and prints a separate table of dates for each pair of zones. For frost dates by county it points readers to the Midwestern Regional Climate Center’s freeze date tool.
Do green beans get an indoor start?
Not every crop is started indoors. UNH’s list sows green beans in the garden, which is why the table below is short.
UNH lists beans as a seed crop sown after the last frost, with no indoor start, so the saved sources give no seed-starting weeks for beans at all.
UNH’s own timing for green beans is after the last frost, so Virginia’s printed window and UNH’s rule of thumb can be set side by side.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| University of New Hampshire | Not started indoors; sow seed after the last frost |
Frost dates for Virginia cities
These are station dates from weather records, not county averages. Pick the station closest to your garden and elevation, and open its link for the full set of probabilities.
No city is assigned to a zone below, because the source does not assign them.
| Station | Last spring 32°F | First fall 32°F | Region in the calendar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roanoke Regional Airport, Virginia | April 3 | November 1 | Not stated by the source |
| Charlottesville Airport, Virginia | April 3 | November 1 | Not stated by the source |
| Richmond International Airport, Virginia | April 3 | November 4 | Not stated by the source |
| Norfolk International Airport, Virginia | March 17 | November 23 | Not stated by the source |
| Washington DC Dulles Airport, Virginia | April 15 | October 24 | Not stated by the source |
Worked example
NOAA’s normals for Washington DC Dulles Airport, Virginia give April 15 as the even-odds date of the last spring 32°F night, and October 24 as the even-odds first fall one.
The calendar does not say which zone Washington DC Dulles Airport belongs to, so set the date against the rows at each end. Zone 8b opens March 20, 26 days before that date; Zone 6a opens May 15, 30 days after it.
Do the same subtraction for your own town: choose its nearest station in the frost dates tool, take the 50% dates, and compare them with the row for your part of Virginia.
Before you rely on these dates
The guide says actual last and first killing frost dates vary with local conditions and from year to year, and invites gardeners to favor earlier or later dates within a range.
Pencil the printed dates into a calendar, then adjust them after you have watched your own garden for a season.
Sources (3)
- Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech (Jadrnicek and Hessler), Virginia's Home Garden Vegetable Planting Guide: Recommended Planting Dates and Amounts to Plant, publication 426-331 (SPES-673P), May 30, 2025 pubs.ext.vt.edu
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, annual and seasonal normals (frost/freeze probabilities by station) ncei.noaa.gov
- University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, Growing Vegetables: When to Plant Your Vegetable Garden (fact sheet) extension.unh.edu