Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's possible to plant mecardonia is to check out the USDA zone info for South Elgin.

Planting Calendar for Mecardonia

Frost tolerance for mecardonia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since mecardonia do not do well in cold weather you need to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mecardonia in South Elgin 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 mecardonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your mecardonia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your mecardonia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for South Elgin may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in South Elgin last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your mecardonia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Elgin

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 South Elgin

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Elgin.