When to Plant Lovage in Forest Park, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant lovage is to consult the USDA zone info for Forest Park.


Planting Calendar for Lovage

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

Lovage can survive in mild cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant lovage in Forest Park 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 lovage and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lovage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lovage indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Forest Park is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Forest Park you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your lovage in the event of 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.