When to Plant Begonias in Wilmington, 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.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant begonias is to refer to the USDA zone info for Wilmington.

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Planting Calendar for Begonias

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

Since begonias do not do well in cold weather it's important to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant begonias in Wilmington 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 begonias and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your begonias may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your begonias indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Wilmington may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Wilmington you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your begonias if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmington

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 Wilmington

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