When to Plant Calliopsis in Charleston, IL

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

It's possible to estimate when it's possible to plant calliopsis by referring to the USDA zone info for Charleston.


Planting Calendar for Calliopsis

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant calliopsis until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant calliopsis in Charleston 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 calliopsis and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your calliopsis may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your calliopsis indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Charleston. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Charleston and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Charleston it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your calliopsis in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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