One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's a good idea to plant flax by looking at the USDA zone info for Hinsdale.

Planting Calendar for Flax

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

Since flax are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant flax in Hinsdale 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 flax and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your flax may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your flax indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Hinsdale. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Hinsdale is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Hinsdale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your flax if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hinsdale

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 Hinsdale

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