When to Plant Bougainvillea in Braidwood, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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.

It's possible to determine when it's possible to plant bougainvillea by reviewing the USDA zone info for Braidwood.


Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant bougainvillea until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Braidwood 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 bougainvillea and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your bougainvillea may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your bougainvillea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Braidwood and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Braidwood it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your bougainvillea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Braidwood

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 Braidwood

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