When to Plant Erysimum in Decatur, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's possible to plant erysimum is to look at the USDA zone info for Decatur.


Planting Calendar for Erysimum

Frost tolerance for erysimum: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Erysimum do well in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant erysimum in Decatur is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant erysimum and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your erysimum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your erysimum indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Decatur may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Decatur it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your erysimum if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Decatur

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 Decatur

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