One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's possible to plant hollyhocks is to consult the USDA zone info for Decatur.

Planting Calendar for Hollyhocks

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

You can plant hollyhocks a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant hollyhocks 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 hollyhocks and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hollyhocks may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your hollyhocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Decatur the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Decatur is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Decatur you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your hollyhocks if you have one of those late frosts.

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.