Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant marigold by looking at the USDA zone info for Carpentersville.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

Frost tolerance for marigold:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's a bad idea to plant marigold until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Carpentersville is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant marigold and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your marigold may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your marigold indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Carpentersville is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Carpentersville you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your marigold 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.