One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant arctotis by looking at the USDA zone info for Granite City.

Planting Calendar for Arctotis

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

Arctotis do well in mild cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Granite City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Granite City and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Granite City there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your arctotis if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Granite City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Granite City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Granite City.