One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The USDA zone info for Elmhurst can be used to figure out when it's the best time to plant anise.

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 well in very little cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant anise in Elmhurst 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Elmhurst. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Elmhurst is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Elmhurst it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your anise if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elmhurst

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 Elmhurst

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