Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant basket of gold is to consult the USDA zone info for Elgin.

Planting Calendar for Basket of Gold

Frost tolerance for basket of gold:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since basket of gold are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant basket of gold in Elgin is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant basket of gold and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your basket of gold may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your basket of gold indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Elgin. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Elgin is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Elgin last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your basket of gold if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elgin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Elgin

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