One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when to plant tithonia is to check out the USDA zone info for New Lenox.

Planting Calendar for Tithonia

Frost tolerance for tithonia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably a bad idea to plant tithonia until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant tithonia in New Lenox 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 tithonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tithonia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tithonia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for New Lenox may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in New Lenox you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your tithonia 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.