One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant tithonia is to look at the USDA zone info for Urbana.

Planting Calendar for Tithonia

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

Since tithonia are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tithonia 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 tithonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tithonia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tithonia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Urbana may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Urbana you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your tithonia in the event of a 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.