When to Plant Basket of Gold in Harvard, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant basket of gold is to check out the USDA zone info for Harvard.


Planting Calendar for Basket of Gold

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

Basket of Gold are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant basket of gold
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant basket of gold
Probably not a good time to plant basket of gold

The earliest that you can plant basket of gold in Harvard 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 basket of gold and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your basket of gold may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your basket of gold indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Harvard the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Harvard is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Harvard last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your basket of gold in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Harvard

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 Harvard

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