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When to Plant Melampodium in Rockford, 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.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's a good idea to plant melampodium by reviewing the USDA zone info for Rockford.


Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Melampodium are not cold tolerant which means that you have to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Rockford 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 melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melampodium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your melampodium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rockford and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rockford it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your melampodium if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rockford

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 Rockford

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