One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

In Bloomington you can estimate when it's the best time to plant cleome by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

Frost tolerance for cleome:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since cleome require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Bloomington 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. If you wait any later than that and your cleome may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cleome indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Bloomington. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bloomington is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Bloomington last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your cleome if you have 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.