One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 first chance to plant helianthemum in Champaign can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Helianthemum

Frost tolerance for helianthemum:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since helianthemum are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant helianthemum in Champaign 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 helianthemum and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your helianthemum may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your helianthemum indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Champaign and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Champaign it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your helianthemum in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Champaign

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 Champaign

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