Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Des Plaines you will be able to determine when it's the best time to plant strawflowers.

Planting Calendar for Strawflowers

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

Since strawflowers are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last 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 USDA zone info for Des Plaines is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Des Plaines it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your strawflowers 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.