When to Plant Sunflowers in Morris, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant sunflowers in Morris can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

It's a bad idea to plant sunflowers until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Morris 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sunflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your sunflowers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Morris. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Morris is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Morris you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your sunflowers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Morris

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 Morris

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