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.

You should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant gladiolus by checking out the USDA zone info for River Grove.

Planting Calendar for Gladiolus

Frost tolerance for gladiolus:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since gladiolus are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gladiolus in River Grove is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant gladiolus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your gladiolus may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your gladiolus indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for River Grove is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in River Grove there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your gladiolus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for River Grove

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 River Grove

You may be interested in your other planting guides for River Grove.