When to Plant Lobelia in Riverdale, IL

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.

You can determine when it's possible to plant lobelia in Riverdale by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Lobelia

Frost tolerance for lobelia: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Lobelia do well in cold weather which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant lobelia in Riverdale 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 lobelia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your lobelia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your lobelia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Riverdale. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Riverdale is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Riverdale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your lobelia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Riverdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Riverdale

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