When to Plant Festuca in Franklin Park, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine 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 determine when to plant festuca.


Planting Calendar for Festuca

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

You can plant festuca a little bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Franklin 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 festuca and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your festuca may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your festuca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Franklin Park the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Franklin Park and it is different every year. Half of the time in Franklin Park you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your festuca if you have 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.