When to Plant Dracaena in Mattoon, IL

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

A common way of estimating when you can plant dracaena is to examine the USDA zone info for Mattoon.


Planting Calendar for Dracaena

Frost tolerance for dracaena: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant dracaena quite a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant dracaena 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 dracaena and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your dracaena may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your dracaena indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Mattoon the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

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 last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your dracaena if you have a surprise late frost.

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.