One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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.

The USDA zone info for Carol Stream should be looked at to figure out when it's possible to plant gerbera.

Planting Calendar for Gerbera

Frost tolerance for gerbera:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Gerbera do well in some cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant gerbera in Carol Stream is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant gerbera and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your gerbera may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your gerbera indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Carol Stream. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Carol Stream is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Carol Stream you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your gerbera 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.