When to Plant Coreopsis in Mendota, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Mendota can be looked at to figure out when it's possible to plant coreopsis.


Planting Calendar for Coreopsis

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

You can plant coreopsis a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant coreopsis in Mendota 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 coreopsis and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your coreopsis may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your coreopsis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Mendota the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mendota is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Mendota you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your coreopsis if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mendota

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Mendota

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