One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant hollyhocks in Fox Lake can be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hollyhocks

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

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

The earliest that you can plant hollyhocks in Fox Lake 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 hollyhocks and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your hollyhocks may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your hollyhocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Fox Lake. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Fox Lake is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Fox Lake last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your hollyhocks if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fox Lake

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 Fox Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fox Lake.