One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant diascia is to check out the USDA zone info for Manteno.

Planting Calendar for Diascia

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

Diascia do ok in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant diascia in Manteno 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 diascia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your diascia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your diascia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Manteno is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Manteno it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your diascia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Manteno

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 Manteno

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