When to Plant Heliotrope 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.

The first chance to plant heliotrope in Wood River can be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

Frost tolerance for heliotrope: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

It's not a good idea to plant heliotrope until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope 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 heliotrope and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your heliotrope may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your heliotrope indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Wood River. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Wood River is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Wood River last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your heliotrope if you have a surprise 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.