When to Plant Asters in West Chicago, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to figure out when you can plant asters by looking at the USDA zone info for West Chicago.

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Planting Calendar for Asters

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

Asters do ok in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant asters in West Chicago 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 asters and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your asters may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your asters indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in West Chicago. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for West Chicago is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in West Chicago last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to protect your asters if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for West Chicago

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 West Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Chicago.