When to Plant Lenten Rose in Pontiac, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 Pontiac can be looked at to determine when to plant lenten rose.


Planting Calendar for Lenten Rose

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

Lenten Rose are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant lenten rose in Pontiac 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 lenten rose and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your lenten rose may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your lenten rose indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Pontiac the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Pontiac is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Pontiac you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your lenten rose in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pontiac

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 Pontiac

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