One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant foxglove in Des Plaines should be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Foxglove

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

Foxglove can survive in some cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Des Plaines. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Des Plaines may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Des Plaines you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your foxglove if you have a surprise late frost.

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.