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.

You should be able to estimate when you can plant matricaria by looking at the USDA zone info for Downers Grove.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

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

You can plant matricaria a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria in Downers Grove 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 matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your matricaria indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Downers Grove. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Downers Grove may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Downers Grove you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your matricaria if you have one of those late frosts.

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.