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When to Plant Digitalis in Des Plaines, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant digitalis in Des Plaines can be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Digitalis

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

Since digitalis are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant digitalis in Des Plaines 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 digitalis and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your digitalis may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your digitalis indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Des Plaines. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Des Plaines and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Des Plaines it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your digitalis in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Des Plaines

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 Des Plaines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Des Plaines.