One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Crest Hill you should be able to estimate when to plant ruby grass.

Planting Calendar for Ruby Grass

Frost tolerance for ruby grass:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since ruby grass are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant ruby grass in Crest Hill is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant ruby grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your ruby grass may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your ruby grass indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Crest Hill. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Crest Hill is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Crest Hill it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your ruby grass if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Crest Hill

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 Crest Hill

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Crest Hill.