One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 estimating when it's the best time to plant tagetes is to examine the USDA zone info for Lombard.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

Frost tolerance for tagetes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Tagetes require warm weather which tells us that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in Lombard 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tagetes may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your tagetes indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Lombard is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lombard it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your tagetes if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lombard

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 Lombard

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