One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The USDA zone info for Mattoon can be read to estimate when it's the best time to plant tritoma.

Planting Calendar for Tritoma

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

Since tritoma are very cold tolerant you can plant them earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant tritoma 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 tritoma and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your tritoma may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tritoma indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Mattoon is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mattoon it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your tritoma in the event of 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.