One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant erysimum in Island Lake should be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Erysimum

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

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

The earliest that you can plant erysimum in Island Lake 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 erysimum and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your erysimum may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your erysimum indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Island Lake. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Island Lake is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Island Lake it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your erysimum if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Island Lake

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 Island Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Island Lake.