One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The USDA zone info for Des Plaines can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's a good idea to plant fountain grass.

Planting Calendar for Fountain Grass

Frost tolerance for fountain grass:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Fountain Grass do ok in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant fountain grass in Des Plaines is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant fountain grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your fountain grass may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your fountain grass indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Des Plaines. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Des Plaines is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Des Plaines you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your fountain grass if you have 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.