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.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant fuchsia is to check out the USDA zone info for Des Plaines.

Planting Calendar for Fuchsia

Frost tolerance for fuchsia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant fuchsia until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Des Plaines is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Des Plaines last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your fuchsia 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.