One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 common way of estimating when to plant iresene is to use the USDA zone info for Chicago.

Planting Calendar for Iresene

Frost tolerance for iresene:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since iresene do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant iresene in Chicago 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 iresene and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your iresene may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your iresene indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Chicago. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Chicago is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Chicago you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your iresene in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chicago

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Chicago

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