One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Niles you can estimate when to plant tritoma by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tritoma

Frost tolerance for tritoma:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since tritoma are very cold tolerant you can plant them earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant tritoma in Niles 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 tritoma and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your tritoma may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your tritoma indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Niles may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Niles it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your tritoma in the event of a late frost.

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.