When to Plant Cuphea in Marseilles, 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.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant cuphea in Marseilles by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Cuphea

Frost tolerance for cuphea: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Cuphea do not do well in cold weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

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

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Marseilles and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Marseilles it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your cuphea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marseilles

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 Marseilles

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