When to Plant Bacopa in Ottawa, 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.

A way of estimating when to plant bacopa is to refer to the USDA zone info for Ottawa.


Planting Calendar for Bacopa

Frost tolerance for bacopa: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant bacopa a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant bacopa in Ottawa is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant bacopa and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your bacopa may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your bacopa indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ottawa. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ottawa and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ottawa you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your bacopa if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ottawa

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 Ottawa

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