One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to estimate when it's possible to plant artichokes by looking at the USDA zone info for Carol Stream.

Planting Calendar for Artichokes

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

Since artichokes 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 plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant artichokes in Carol Stream 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 artichokes and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your artichokes may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Carol Stream. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Carol Stream is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Carol Stream you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your artichokes in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carol Stream

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 Carol Stream

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Carol Stream.