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.

A way of determining when it's possible to plant hosta is to refer to the USDA zone info for Bourbonnais.

Planting Calendar for Hosta

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

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

The earliest that you can plant hosta in Bourbonnais 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 hosta and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your hosta may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your hosta indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Bourbonnais is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Bourbonnais there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your hosta in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bourbonnais

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 Bourbonnais

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