One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant violas is to use the USDA zone info for Champaign.

Planting Calendar for Violas

Frost tolerance for violas:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since violas do well in cold you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant violas 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 violas and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your violas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your violas indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Champaign is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Champaign you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your violas 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.