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.

By using the USDA zone info for Alsip it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant sunflowers.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since sunflowers are not cold tolerant it is important to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Alsip is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sunflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your sunflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Alsip. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Alsip and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Alsip last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your sunflowers if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alsip

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Alsip

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