One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Carol Stream you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant matricaria by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

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

You can plant matricaria a little bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria 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 matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your matricaria indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Carol Stream is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Carol Stream there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your matricaria 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.