When to Plant Centaurea in Lisle, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 referring to the USDA zone info for Lisle it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant centaurea.


Planting Calendar for Centaurea

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

Centaurea do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant centaurea in Lisle 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 centaurea and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your centaurea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your centaurea indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Lisle. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Lisle is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lisle you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your centaurea if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lisle

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 Lisle

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