When to Plant Lavender in Forest Park, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Forest Park you can determine when it's possible to plant lavender by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Lavender

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

Lavender are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant lavender 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 and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your lavender may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your lavender indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Forest Park. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Always keep in mind 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. Half of the time in Forest Park it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your lavender if you have a late frost.

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.