One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your 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 figure out when it's the best time to plant melampodium by referring to the USDA zone info for Streator.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

You should not plant melampodium until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Streator 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 melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melampodium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your melampodium 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 Streator. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Streator may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Streator you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your melampodium if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Streator

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 Streator

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