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 first opportunity to plant common hollyhock in Elgin should be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Common hollyhock

Frost tolerance for common hollyhock:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Common hollyhock can survive in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant common hollyhock in Elgin 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 common hollyhock and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your common hollyhock may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your common hollyhock indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Elgin. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Elgin and it is different every year. Half of the time in Elgin it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your common hollyhock in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elgin

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 Elgin

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elgin.