When to Plant Heuchera 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.

The first opportunity to plant heuchera in Ottawa should be estimated by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Heuchera

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

You can plant heuchera a little earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant heuchera in Ottawa 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 heuchera and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your heuchera may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your heuchera indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind 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. Since half of the time in Ottawa it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your heuchera 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.