One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when to plant helianthemum is to look at the USDA zone info for Cicero.

Planting Calendar for Helianthemum

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

Helianthemum can survive in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Cicero. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cicero may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Cicero there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your helianthemum in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cicero

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 Cicero

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