When to Plant Sweet Williams in Evanston, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your 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.

You can figure out when it's possible to plant sweet williams in Evanston by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Sweet Williams

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

Sweet Williams are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant sweet williams in Evanston 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 sweet williams and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sweet williams may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your sweet williams indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Evanston. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Evanston is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Evanston last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your sweet williams if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Evanston

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 Evanston

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