When to Plant Petunias in Barrington, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant petunias is to examine the USDA zone info for Barrington.

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Planting Calendar for Petunias

Frost tolerance for petunias: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant petunias slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Barrington is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant petunias and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your petunias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your petunias indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Barrington. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Barrington may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Barrington there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your petunias in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Barrington

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Barrington

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Barrington.