Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant gladiolus is to examine the USDA zone info for East Moline.

Planting Calendar for Gladiolus

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

Gladiolus do well in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gladiolus in East Moline 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 gladiolus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gladiolus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your gladiolus indoors.

Last Frost Date

In East Moline the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for East Moline and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in East Moline last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your gladiolus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for East Moline

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 East Moline

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