When to Plant Okra in Cary, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

In Cary you can determine when it's a good idea to plant okra by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Okra

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

Okra require warm weather which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant okra in Cary 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 okra and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your okra may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your okra indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Cary. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Cary is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Cary it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your okra in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cary

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 Cary

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