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

A way of making a decision about when you can plant liatris is to refer to the USDA zone info for Carpentersville.

Planting Calendar for Liatris

Frost tolerance for liatris:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since liatris do well in cold you can plant them much earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant liatris in Carpentersville 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 liatris and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your liatris may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your liatris indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Carpentersville is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Carpentersville last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your liatris in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carpentersville

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 Carpentersville

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Carpentersville.