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.

The USDA zone info for Bourbonnais should be reffered to in order to determine when to plant hamelia.

Planting Calendar for Hamelia

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

Since hamelia do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant hamelia in Bourbonnais 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 hamelia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your hamelia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hamelia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Bourbonnais is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Bourbonnais last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your hamelia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bourbonnais

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 Bourbonnais

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