When to Plant Four O' Clock in Madison, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when to plant four o' clock is to examine the USDA zone info for Madison.


Planting Calendar for Four O' Clock

Frost tolerance for four o' clock: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Four O' Clock require warm weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant four o' clock
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant four o' clock
Probably not a good time to plant four o' clock

The earliest that you can plant four o' clock in Madison 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 four o' clock and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your four o' clock may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your four o' clock indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Madison. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madison is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Madison last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your four o' clock in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

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 Low0°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 Madison

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