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When to Plant Columbine in Carol Stream, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. 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 figure out when it's the best time to plant columbine by looking at the USDA zone info for Carol Stream.


Planting Calendar for Columbine

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

Columbine are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

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

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Carol Stream and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Carol Stream you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your columbine if you have a 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.