One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A common way of figuring out when to plant delphinium is to refer to the USDA zone info for Elgin.

Planting Calendar for Delphinium

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

You can plant delphinium slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant delphinium in Elgin 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 delphinium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your delphinium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your delphinium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Elgin the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elgin is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Elgin last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your delphinium if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elgin

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 Elgin

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elgin.