The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant festuca in Des Plaines should be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Festuca

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

Festuca do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant festuca 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 festuca and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your festuca may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your festuca indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important 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 is different every year. Half of the time in Des Plaines you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your festuca if you have 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.