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.

It's possible to figure out when it's possible to plant petunias by reviewing the USDA zone info for Elmwood Park.

Planting Calendar for Petunias

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

Petunias can survive in some cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Elmwood Park 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 petunias and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your petunias may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your petunias indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Elmwood Park the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Elmwood Park is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Elmwood Park it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your petunias if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elmwood Park

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

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

Plants to Grow in Elmwood Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elmwood Park.