When to Plant Thyme in Franklin Park, IL

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

You should be able to figure out when you can plant thyme by looking at the USDA zone info for Franklin Park.


Planting Calendar for Thyme

Frost tolerance for thyme: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Thyme are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted much earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant thyme 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 thyme and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your thyme may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your thyme indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Franklin Park is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Franklin Park you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your thyme if you have a 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.