When to Plant Purple Bell Vines in Ottawa, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to estimate when it's possible to plant purple bell vines by using the USDA zone info for Ottawa.


Planting Calendar for Purple Bell Vines

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

Purple Bell Vines are barely cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant purple bell vines
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant purple bell vines
Probably not a good time to plant purple bell vines

The earliest that you can plant purple bell vines 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 purple bell vines and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your purple bell vines may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your purple bell vines indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them 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.

Remember that USDA zone info for Ottawa is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ottawa you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your purple bell vines if you have a late frost.

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.