Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 Pekin should be reffered to in order to determine when it's a good idea to plant alternanthera.

Planting Calendar for Alternanthera

Frost tolerance for alternanthera:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You really shouldn't plant alternanthera until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant alternanthera in Pekin 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 alternanthera and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your alternanthera may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your alternanthera indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Pekin the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Pekin is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Pekin there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your alternanthera in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Pekin

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 Pekin

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