When to Plant Violas in Elmwood Park, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Elmwood Park can be reffered to in order to figure out when it's a good idea to plant violas.


Planting Calendar for Violas

Frost tolerance for violas: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since violas do well in cold you can plant them much earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant violas in Elmwood Park 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 violas and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your violas may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your violas indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Elmwood Park may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Elmwood Park you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your violas if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Elmwood Park

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 Elmwood Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elmwood Park.