One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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 way of making a decision about when you can plant lobelia is to refer to the USDA zone info for Crystal Lake.

Planting Calendar for Lobelia

Frost tolerance for lobelia:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant lobelia a lot earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant lobelia in Crystal Lake 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 lobelia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your lobelia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lobelia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Crystal Lake is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Crystal Lake last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your lobelia in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.