When to Plant Cosmos in Coal City, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant cosmos in Coal City by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Cosmos

Frost tolerance for cosmos: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Cosmos are barely cold tolerant which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant cosmos in Coal City is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cosmos and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cosmos may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cosmos indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

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 Coal City and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Coal City last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your cosmos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Coal City

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 Coal City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Coal City.