When to Plant Diascia in Forest Park, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

It's possible to estimate when it's the best time to plant diascia by referring to the USDA zone info for Forest Park.


Planting Calendar for Diascia

Frost tolerance for diascia: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since diascia are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant diascia in Forest 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 diascia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your diascia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your diascia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Forest Park. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°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 Forest Park and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Forest Park you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your diascia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Forest Park

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Forest Park

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