Scotland's most populous belt runs coast to coast from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and the lowland figures here, from Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden, are among the mildest in the country.
But the belt also rises into the Campsies, Pentlands and Ochils, and those hills are a different climate. No open Met Office station sits on that high ground, so the upland figures borrow Eskdalemuir and are flagged low-confidence: read them as the shape of upland behaviour, not a local record.
Frost dates for Central Belt
Half-month bands from named Met Office stations (1991-2020 averages). Lowland means coastal or under about 150m; upland is higher or inland.
| Garden | Last spring frost | First autumn frost | Safe to plant out | Season | Station | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| lowland | mid-to-late April | late October | mid May | ~185 days | Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Garden No 2 | high |
| upland | mid-to-late May | late September | early June | ~130 days | Eskdalemuir (242m) | low |
Upland: Analogue only. Eskdalemuir is in Dumfriesshire, not the Central Belt; used because no open Met Office station represents Central Belt high ground. Treat as indicative of upland behaviour, not a local record.
Corroborated by Paisley, Leuchars.
Sources: Met Office · Met Office
What this means for growing here
Sow and plant out to these dates rather than a UK calendar, and remember they are regional averages. Your own plot can run two to four weeks later in a frost pocket, or earlier against a warm wall. If your garden is high or inland, use the upland row; if it is coastal or low, the lowland one.The Planting Calendar turns these into a month-by-month plan.
Sources
- Met Office: location-specific long-term averages: the 1991-2020 air-frost day counts behind every variant row, including the Inverness/Edinburgh comparison
- Derivation method: GrowScotland's own. We treat a month as carrying meaningful frost risk when it averages at least half an air-frost day, take the last such month in spring and the first in autumn, and express each as a half-month band.