When to Plant Cardinal Flower in Wood River, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

You can figure out when to plant cardinal flower in Wood River by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

Frost tolerance for cardinal flower: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Cardinal Flower require warm weather which tells us that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Wood River 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your cardinal flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Wood River the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Wood River is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Wood River you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your cardinal flower in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Wood River

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Wood River

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Wood River.