The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when you can plant arctotis is to look at the USDA zone info for Peoria.

Planting Calendar for Arctotis

Frost tolerance for arctotis:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since arctotis are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant arctotis in Peoria is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant arctotis and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your arctotis may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your arctotis indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Peoria. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Peoria is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Peoria there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your arctotis in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Peoria

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 Peoria

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