One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 USDA zone info for Winnetka should be reffered to in order to estimate when it's possible to plant lemon grass.

Planting Calendar for Lemon grass

Frost tolerance for lemon grass:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Lemon grass are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant lemon grass in Winnetka is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant lemon grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lemon grass may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lemon grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Winnetka. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Winnetka and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Winnetka you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your lemon grass if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Winnetka

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 Winnetka

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