When to Plant Diascia in Champaign, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when you can plant diascia is to use the USDA zone info for Champaign.

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Planting Calendar for Diascia

Frost tolerance for diascia: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since diascia are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

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

The last month that you can plant diascia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your diascia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your diascia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Champaign. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Champaign is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Champaign last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your diascia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Champaign

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 Champaign

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