One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Mattoon you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant flowering maple by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Maple

Frost tolerance for flowering maple:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You should not plant flowering maple until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant flowering maple 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 flowering maple and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your flowering maple may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your flowering maple indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last 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.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Mattoon is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Mattoon there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your flowering maple in the event of a 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.