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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant lupine is to refer to the USDA zone info for Hickory Hills.

Planting Calendar for Lupine

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

Since lupine are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant lupine in Hickory Hills 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 lupine and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lupine may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lupine indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Hickory Hills is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Hickory Hills you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your lupine if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hickory Hills

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 Hickory Hills

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Hickory Hills.