When to Plant Calibrachoa in Crete, IL

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.

In Crete you can determine when to plant calibrachoa by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Calibrachoa

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

Calibrachoa tend to make it in very little cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant calibrachoa in Crete 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 calibrachoa and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your calibrachoa may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your calibrachoa 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 Crete. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Crete is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Crete you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your calibrachoa if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Crete

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 Crete

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