When to Plant Gerbera in Paris, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Paris can be reviewed to determine when to plant gerbera.


Planting Calendar for Gerbera

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

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

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

The earliest that you can plant gerbera in Paris 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 gerbera and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your gerbera may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your gerbera indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Paris. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Paris is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Paris there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your gerbera if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Paris

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 Paris

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