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 earliest that you can plant statice in Chicago can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Statice

Frost tolerance for statice:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Statice are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The last month that you can plant statice and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your statice may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your statice indoors.

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.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Chicago and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Chicago you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your statice if you have 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.