Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant coleus is to use the USDA zone info for Ellettsville.

Planting Calendar for Coleus

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

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

The earliest that you can plant coleus in Ellettsville 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 coleus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your coleus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your coleus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Ellettsville. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ellettsville may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ellettsville it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your coleus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ellettsville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Ellettsville

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