Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when to plant mecardonia is to examine the USDA zone info for Champaign.

Planting Calendar for Mecardonia

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

Since mecardonia require warm weather you really should wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mecardonia in Champaign 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 mecardonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your mecardonia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your mecardonia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Champaign and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Champaign you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your mecardonia if you have a late frost.

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.