When to Plant Calibrachoa in Wheeling, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 chance to plant calibrachoa in Wheeling can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Create beautiful hand-made plants at forever-plants.com

Planting Calendar for Calibrachoa

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

Since calibrachoa are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant calibrachoa in Wheeling 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 calibrachoa and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your calibrachoa may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your calibrachoa indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Wheeling may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Wheeling you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your calibrachoa if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Wheeling

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 Wheeling

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