One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 Pekin should be used to figure out when it's a good idea to plant bower vine.

Planting Calendar for Bower Vine

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

Since bower vine require warm weather it's important to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant bower vine 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 bower vine and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your bower vine may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bower vine 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.

It's important to 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 Pekin and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Pekin you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your bower vine in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.