When to Plant Bittercress in Zion, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to determine when you can plant bittercress by looking at the USDA zone info for Zion.


Planting Calendar for Bittercress

Frost tolerance for bittercress: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant bittercress slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

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

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

The last month that you can plant bittercress and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your bittercress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your bittercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Zion. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zion is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Zion you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your bittercress in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zion

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 Zion

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