One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The USDA zone info for Chicago Heights can be looked at to figure out when it's a good idea to plant cardinal flower.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

Frost tolerance for cardinal flower:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You can not plant cardinal flower until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Chicago Heights 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cardinal flower may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your cardinal flower indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Chicago Heights. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Chicago Heights is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Chicago Heights it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your cardinal flower in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chicago Heights

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 Chicago Heights

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Chicago Heights.