When to Plant Santolina in Elmwood Park, IL

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.

You will be able to figure out when you can plant santolina by looking at the USDA zone info for Elmwood Park.


Planting Calendar for Santolina

Frost tolerance for santolina: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

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

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant santolina
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant santolina
Probably not a good time to plant santolina

The earliest that you can plant santolina in Elmwood Park 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 santolina and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your santolina may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your santolina indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Elmwood Park 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 Elmwood Park is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Elmwood Park you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your santolina in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Elmwood Park

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 Elmwood Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elmwood Park.