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 should be looked at to determine when it's the best time to plant salpiglossis.

Planting Calendar for Salpiglossis

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

You can not plant salpiglossis until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant salpiglossis 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 salpiglossis and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your salpiglossis may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your salpiglossis indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Chicago. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Chicago and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Chicago last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your salpiglossis if you have one of those late frosts.

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.