The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when to plant sunflowers is to refer to the USDA zone info for Coal City.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You can not plant sunflowers until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

In Coal City the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Coal City is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Coal City you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your sunflowers if you have a late frost.

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.