When to Plant Lavender Cotton in Forest Park, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to estimate when it's a good idea to plant lavender cotton by checking out the USDA zone info for Forest Park.


Planting Calendar for Lavender Cotton

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

Lavender Cotton do well in cold which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant lavender cotton in Forest 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 lavender cotton and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your lavender cotton may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your lavender cotton indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Forest Park. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Forest Park and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Forest Park last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your lavender cotton in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Forest Park

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Forest Park

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