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.

The first opportunity to plant verbena in Chicago Heights should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Verbena

Frost tolerance for verbena:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant verbena a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant verbena in Chicago Heights is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant verbena and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your verbena may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your verbena indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Chicago Heights. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Chicago Heights may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Chicago Heights last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your verbena in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.