One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 it's the best time to plant lovage by using the USDA zone info for Du Quoin.

Planting Calendar for Lovage

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

Lovage are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lovage in Du Quoin 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 lovage and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lovage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lovage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Du Quoin. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Du Quoin is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Du Quoin there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your lovage in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Du Quoin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Du Quoin

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Du Quoin.