One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Elgin you can figure out when it's the best time to plant gomphrena by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gomphrena

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

You can plant gomphrena slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant gomphrena in Elgin 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 gomphrena and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your gomphrena may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your gomphrena indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Elgin. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Elgin may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Elgin there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your gomphrena if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elgin

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 Elgin

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