One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant decorative kale by looking at the USDA zone info for Belvidere.

Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

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

Decorative Kale do ok in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant decorative kale in Belvidere 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 decorative kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your decorative kale may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your decorative kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Belvidere. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Belvidere is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Belvidere you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your decorative kale if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Belvidere

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 Belvidere

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