When to Plant Pampas Grass in Riverdale, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

The USDA zone info for Riverdale should be reviewed to figure out when it's the best time to plant pampas grass.


Planting Calendar for Pampas Grass

Frost tolerance for pampas grass: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant pampas grass until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant pampas grass in Riverdale 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 pampas grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pampas grass may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pampas grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Riverdale. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Riverdale is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Riverdale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your pampas grass in the event of 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.