One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant chicory is to look at the USDA zone info for Elmhurst.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

You can plant chicory just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Elmhurst 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 chicory and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chicory may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chicory indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Elmhurst. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elmhurst is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Elmhurst it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your chicory 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.