When to Plant Thyme in Highwood, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Highwood can be reffered to in order to determine when you can plant thyme.


Planting Calendar for Thyme

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

Thyme do well in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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 Highwood 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your thyme may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your thyme indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Highwood may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Highwood it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your thyme in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Highwood

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 Highwood

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Highwood.