When to Plant Bougainvillea in Princeton, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Princeton you will be able to determine when to plant bougainvillea.


Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

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

Bougainvillea require warm weather which tells us that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant bougainvillea in Princeton 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 bougainvillea and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your bougainvillea may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bougainvillea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Princeton. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Princeton may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Princeton it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your bougainvillea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Princeton

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 Princeton

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