When to Plant Melampodium in Spring Valley, 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 should be able to determine when you can plant melampodium by reviewing the USDA zone info for Spring Valley.


Planting Calendar for Melampodium

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

Melampodium require warm weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost 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 Spring Valley 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. If you wait any later than that and your melampodium may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your melampodium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Spring Valley the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Spring Valley is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Spring Valley last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your melampodium if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Spring Valley

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 Spring Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Spring Valley.