When to Plant Common hollyhock in Geneva, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 Geneva you can determine when it's a good idea to plant common hollyhock by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Common hollyhock

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

Common hollyhock do well in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant common hollyhock in Geneva 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 common hollyhock and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your common hollyhock may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your common hollyhock indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Geneva is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Geneva it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your common hollyhock in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Geneva

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 Geneva

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