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.

The best time to plant mecardonia in West Chicago should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Mecardonia

Frost tolerance for mecardonia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant mecardonia until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant mecardonia in West Chicago 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 mecardonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your mecardonia may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your mecardonia indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of 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.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for West Chicago is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in West Chicago you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your mecardonia if you have a surprise late frost.

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.