The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Algonquin you can determine when it's possible to plant chinese chives by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

Frost tolerance for chinese chives:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since chinese chives are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in Algonquin 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 chinese chives and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your chinese chives may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chinese chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Algonquin. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Algonquin may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Algonquin last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your chinese chives in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Algonquin

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 Algonquin

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