When to Plant Bidens in Ottawa, IL

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.

You can determine when to plant bidens in Ottawa by looking at the USDA zone info.

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Planting Calendar for Bidens

Frost tolerance for bidens: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

Bidens are not cold tolerant which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

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

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Ottawa is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ottawa you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your bidens in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ottawa

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 Ottawa

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