When to Plant Lantana in Elmhurst, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 Elmhurst should be reviewed to estimate when it's a good idea to plant lantana.


Planting Calendar for Lantana

Frost tolerance for lantana: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

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

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant lantana
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant lantana
Probably not a good time to plant lantana

The earliest that you can plant lantana in Elmhurst 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 lantana and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lantana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your lantana indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Elmhurst the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elmhurst may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Elmhurst it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your lantana in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elmhurst

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 Elmhurst

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