When to Plant Lemon grass in Crystal Lake, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. 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 making a decision about when you can plant lemon grass is to look at the USDA zone info for Crystal Lake.


Planting Calendar for Lemon grass

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

You can plant lemon grass just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant lemon grass
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant lemon grass
Probably not a good time to plant lemon grass

The earliest that you can plant lemon grass in Crystal Lake 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 lemon grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your lemon grass may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your lemon grass indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Crystal Lake. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Crystal Lake is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Crystal Lake it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your lemon grass in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Crystal Lake

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 Crystal Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Crystal Lake.