When to Plant Bougainvillea in Naperville, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. 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 Naperville can be read to estimate when to plant bougainvillea.


Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

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

It's a bad idea to plant bougainvillea until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Naperville 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 bougainvillea and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your bougainvillea may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bougainvillea indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Naperville is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Naperville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your bougainvillea in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Naperville

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 Naperville

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