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When to Plant Tropical Water Plants in Harvard, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Harvard you should be able to figure out when it's possible to plant tropical water plants.


Planting Calendar for Tropical Water Plants

Frost tolerance for tropical water plants: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

Tropical Water Plants are not cold tolerant which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
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A good time to plant tropical water plants
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant tropical water plants
Probably not a good time to plant tropical water plants

The earliest that you can plant tropical water plants in Harvard is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant tropical water plants and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tropical water plants may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your tropical water plants indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Harvard. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Harvard and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Harvard it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your tropical water plants if you have 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.