One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's the best time to plant aubretia in Des Plaines by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Aubretia

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

Aubretia are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them much earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant aubretia in Des Plaines 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 aubretia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your aubretia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your aubretia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Des Plaines. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Des Plaines and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Des Plaines it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your aubretia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Des Plaines

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Des Plaines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Des Plaines.