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When to Plant Chinese celery in Sterling, 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.

You can estimate when it's a good idea to plant chinese celery in Sterling by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Chinese celery

Frost tolerance for chinese celery: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since chinese celery are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant chinese celery in Sterling is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chinese celery and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chinese celery may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your chinese celery indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Sterling 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.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sterling and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Sterling there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your chinese celery in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sterling

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 Sterling

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