When to Plant Black Eyed Susans in Zion, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 black eyed susans in Zion can be figured out by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Black Eyed Susans

Frost tolerance for black eyed susans: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

Since black eyed susans do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant black eyed susans
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant black eyed susans
Probably not a good time to plant black eyed susans

The earliest that you can plant black eyed susans in Zion 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 black eyed susans and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your black eyed susans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your black eyed susans indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Zion. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zion and it is different every year. Half of the time in Zion it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your black eyed susans if you have one of those late frosts.

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.