When to Plant Cleome in Princeton, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant cleome in Princeton by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Cleome

Frost tolerance for cleome: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably a bad idea to plant cleome until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Princeton 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 cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cleome may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your cleome indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Princeton. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Princeton is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Princeton last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your cleome if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Princeton

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 Princeton

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