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When to Plant Bougainvillea in Rock Falls, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's possible to plant bougainvillea is to examine the USDA zone info for Rock Falls.


Planting Calendar for Bougainvillea

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

Since bougainvillea do not do well in cold weather it's important to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer 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 Rock Falls 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bougainvillea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your bougainvillea indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rock Falls the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Rock Falls is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Rock Falls there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your bougainvillea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rock Falls

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 Rock Falls

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rock Falls.