When to Plant Asparagus Fern in Franklin 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.

The USDA zone info for Franklin Park should be used to figure out when it's the best time to plant asparagus fern.


Planting Calendar for Asparagus Fern

Frost tolerance for asparagus fern: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant asparagus fern until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant asparagus fern in Franklin Park is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant asparagus fern and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your asparagus fern may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your asparagus fern indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Franklin Park. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Franklin Park is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Franklin Park you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your asparagus fern in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Franklin Park

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 Franklin Park

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