One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Matteson you can figure out when it's possible to plant gerbera by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gerbera

Frost tolerance for gerbera:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Gerbera do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gerbera in Matteson is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant gerbera and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your gerbera may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your gerbera indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Matteson the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Matteson is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Matteson last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your gerbera in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Matteson

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 Matteson

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