Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when you can plant anchusa is to examine the USDA zone info for Bloomington.

Planting Calendar for Anchusa

Frost tolerance for anchusa:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Anchusa do ok in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant anchusa in Bloomington is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant anchusa and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your anchusa may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your anchusa indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Bloomington may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Bloomington there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your anchusa in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bloomington

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 Bloomington

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