When to Plant Borage in Buffalo Grove, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant borage is to consult the USDA zone info for Buffalo Grove.


Planting Calendar for Borage

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

Since borage do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant borage
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant borage
Probably not a good time to plant borage

The earliest that you can plant borage in Buffalo Grove 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 borage and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your borage may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your borage indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Buffalo Grove may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Buffalo Grove there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your borage if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Buffalo Grove

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 Buffalo Grove

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Buffalo Grove.