Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's possible to plant painted tongues is to check out the USDA zone info for Lake Forest.

Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

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

Since painted tongues do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant painted tongues in Lake Forest 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 painted tongues and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your painted tongues may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your painted tongues indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in Lake Forest. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lake Forest and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Forest last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your painted tongues in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Forest

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Forest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Forest.