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.

The USDA zone info for Elgin should be used to figure out when you can plant heliotrope.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

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

It's not a good idea to plant heliotrope until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Elgin 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 heliotrope and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your heliotrope may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your heliotrope indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Elgin and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Elgin last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your heliotrope if you have one of those late frosts.

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.