Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. 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 should be reffered to in order to estimate when to plant mecardonia.

Planting Calendar for Mecardonia

Frost tolerance for mecardonia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant mecardonia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant mecardonia 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 mecardonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your mecardonia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your mecardonia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Chicago Heights the average date of last frost happens on April 15. 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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Chicago Heights you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your mecardonia in the event of a surprise 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.