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 figure out when it's the best time to plant platycodon by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Platycodon

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

Platycodon do well in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant platycodon in Algonquin 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 platycodon and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your platycodon may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your platycodon 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 is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Algonquin last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your platycodon 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.