The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Elgin it's a good idea to figure out when you can plant nicotiana.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

Frost tolerance for nicotiana:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You really shouldn't plant nicotiana until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana in Elgin is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant nicotiana and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your nicotiana may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your nicotiana indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Elgin. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elgin may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Elgin there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your nicotiana if you have a surprise 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.