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.

In Mattoon you can figure out when you can plant common hollyhock by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Common hollyhock

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

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

The earliest that you can plant common hollyhock in Mattoon 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 common hollyhock and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your common hollyhock may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your common hollyhock indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Mattoon. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Mattoon may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Mattoon it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your common hollyhock 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.