One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 estimating when it's a good idea to plant abutilon is to look at the USDA zone info for East Alton.

Planting Calendar for Abutilon

Frost tolerance for abutilon:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since abutilon are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant abutilon in East Alton 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 abutilon and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your abutilon may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your abutilon indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in East Alton. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for East Alton is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in East Alton it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your abutilon in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for East Alton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in East Alton

You may be interested in your other planting guides for East Alton.