When to Plant Chocolate Daisy in Ottawa, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening 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 chocolate daisy in Ottawa should be determined by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Chocolate Daisy

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

Chocolate Daisy are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant chocolate daisy 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 chocolate daisy and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your chocolate daisy may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chocolate daisy indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ottawa and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ottawa it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your chocolate daisy in the event of 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.