When to Plant Cardinal Flower in Pana, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant cardinal flower is to check out the USDA zone info for Pana.


Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant cardinal flower until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Pana 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your cardinal flower indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Pana. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Pana and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Pana you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your cardinal flower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Pana

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Pana

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