When to Plant Garden Mums in Willow Springs, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums in Willow Springs can be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

Frost tolerance for garden mums: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Garden Mums are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant garden mums in Willow Springs 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 garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your garden mums may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your garden mums indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Willow Springs. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Willow Springs and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Willow Springs there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your garden mums if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Willow Springs

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 Willow Springs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Willow Springs.