One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant rudbeckia is to examine the USDA zone info for Mokena.

Planting Calendar for Rudbeckia

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

Rudbeckia are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant rudbeckia in Mokena 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 rudbeckia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your rudbeckia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your rudbeckia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Mokena is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Mokena you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your rudbeckia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mokena

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 Mokena

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