When to Plant Purple Coneflower in Ottawa, IL

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

In Ottawa you can determine when it's a good idea to plant purple coneflower by using the USDA zone info.

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Planting Calendar for Purple Coneflower

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

You can plant purple coneflower a bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant purple coneflower in Ottawa 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 purple coneflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your purple coneflower may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your purple coneflower indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ottawa the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ottawa and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ottawa there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your purple coneflower if you have one of those late frosts.

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.