Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to figure out when it's possible to plant achimenes by looking at the USDA zone info for Mattoon.

Planting Calendar for Achimenes

Frost tolerance for achimenes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant achimenes until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant achimenes in Mattoon 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 achimenes and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your achimenes may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your achimenes indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Mattoon. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Mattoon is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Mattoon last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your achimenes if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mattoon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Mattoon

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