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.

It's possible to determine when it's a good idea to plant lotus vine by looking at the USDA zone info for Niles.

Planting Calendar for Lotus Vine

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

Since lotus vine do ok in moderate cold you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lotus vine in Niles 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 lotus vine and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your lotus vine may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lotus vine indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Niles the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Niles is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Niles you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your lotus vine if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Niles

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 Niles

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