When to Plant Nasturtium in Des Plaines, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. 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 possible to plant nasturtium in Des Plaines by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Nasturtium

Frost tolerance for nasturtium: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

Nasturtium do not do well in cold weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant nasturtium
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant nasturtium
Probably not a good time to plant nasturtium

The earliest that you can plant nasturtium 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 nasturtium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your nasturtium may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your nasturtium indoors.

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.

Since the USDA zone info for Des Plaines is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Des Plaines it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your nasturtium 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.