When to Plant Datura in Wheeling, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 figuring out when it's possible to plant datura is to refer to the USDA zone info for Wheeling.


Planting Calendar for Datura

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

Since datura are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant datura 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 datura and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your datura may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your datura indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Wheeling may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Wheeling you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your datura in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.