One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 making a decision about when it's the best time to plant lobelia is to look at the USDA zone info for New Lenox.

Planting Calendar for Lobelia

Frost tolerance for lobelia:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Lobelia are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lobelia in New Lenox 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 lobelia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your lobelia may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your lobelia indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in New Lenox. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for New Lenox is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in New Lenox it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your lobelia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for New Lenox

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 New Lenox

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Lenox.