When to Plant Celosia in Ottawa, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

It's possible to determine when it's a good idea to plant celosia by checking out the USDA zone info for Ottawa.

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Planting Calendar for Celosia

Frost tolerance for celosia: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Celosia are not cold tolerant which tells us that it's necessary 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 celosia
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant celosia
Probably not a good time to plant celosia

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

Last Frost Date

In Ottawa the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ottawa is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Ottawa last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your celosia in the event of a 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.