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.

The best time to plant creeping phlox in Des Plaines should be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Creeping Phlox

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

Creeping Phlox do well in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Des Plaines. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Des Plaines may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Des Plaines it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your creeping phlox in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.