When to Plant Columbine in Milan, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant columbine in Milan should be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Since columbine do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant columbine in Milan 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 columbine and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your columbine may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your columbine indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Milan is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Milan it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your columbine in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Milan

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 Milan

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