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

In Island Lake you can figure out when to plant primroses by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Primroses

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

Since primroses do well in cold you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant primroses 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 primroses and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your primroses may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your primroses indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Island Lake. 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 Island Lake is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Island Lake you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your primroses 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.