One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant cilantro is to check out the USDA zone info for Elmhurst.

Planting Calendar for Cilantro

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

You can plant cilantro a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cilantro 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 cilantro and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cilantro may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your cilantro indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Elmhurst may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Elmhurst last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your cilantro if you have one of those late frosts.

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.