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.

The USDA zone info for Wheeling should be looked at to figure out when it's possible to plant dracaena.

Planting Calendar for Dracaena

Frost tolerance for dracaena:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Dracaena are very cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them much earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant dracaena in Wheeling is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant dracaena and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dracaena may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your dracaena indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Wheeling and it changes 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 cover your dracaena in the event of a 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.