One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant heliotrope is to consult the USDA zone info for Urbana.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

Frost tolerance for heliotrope:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since heliotrope do not do well in cold weather it is important to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Urbana 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 heliotrope and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your heliotrope may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your heliotrope indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Urbana. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Urbana is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Urbana you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your heliotrope 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.