One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A way of determining when it's possible to plant dipladenia is to consult the USDA zone info for Elgin.

Planting Calendar for Dipladenia

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

You should not plant dipladenia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant dipladenia in Elgin 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 dipladenia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your dipladenia may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your dipladenia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Elgin the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Elgin is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Elgin last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your dipladenia in the event of a surprise 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.