Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for East Alton it's a good idea to determine when it's the best time to plant lenten rose.

Planting Calendar for Lenten Rose

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

You can plant lenten rose a little earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant lenten rose in East Alton 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 lenten rose and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your lenten rose may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your lenten rose indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for East Alton is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in East Alton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your lenten rose 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.