One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Downers Grove you can determine when it's a good idea to plant anise by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Anise

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

Anise do ok in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant anise in Downers Grove 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 anise and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your anise may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your anise indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Downers Grove. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Downers Grove and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Downers Grove you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your anise in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Downers Grove

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 Downers Grove

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Downers Grove.