When to Plant Sweet Potato Vine in Wilmette, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant sweet potato vine by checking out the USDA zone info for Wilmette.


Planting Calendar for Sweet Potato Vine

Frost tolerance for sweet potato vine: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You can not plant sweet potato vine until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant sweet potato vine
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sweet potato vine
Probably not a good time to plant sweet potato vine

The earliest that you can plant sweet potato vine in Wilmette 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 sweet potato vine and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your sweet potato vine may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your sweet potato vine 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 Wilmette. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Wilmette is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Wilmette there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your sweet potato vine if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmette

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 Wilmette

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