One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to determine when it's a good idea to plant tithonia by looking at the USDA zone info for Urbana.

Planting Calendar for Tithonia

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant tithonia until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant tithonia in Urbana 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 tithonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tithonia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your tithonia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Urbana. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Urbana may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Urbana you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your tithonia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Urbana

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 Urbana

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