One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant gladiolus in Urbana should be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gladiolus

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

Gladiolus are barely cold tolerant which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gladiolus in Urbana 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 gladiolus and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your gladiolus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your gladiolus indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Urbana. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Urbana is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Urbana there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your gladiolus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Urbana

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 Urbana

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