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 way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant dallas fern is to use the USDA zone info for Coal City.

Planting Calendar for Dallas Fern

Frost tolerance for dallas fern:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant dallas fern until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant dallas fern in Coal City 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 dallas fern and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your dallas fern may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your dallas fern indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Coal City the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Coal City is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Coal City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your dallas fern if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Coal City

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 Coal City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Coal City.