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.

A common way of determining when to plant verbena is to use the USDA zone info for Island Lake.

Planting Calendar for Verbena

Frost tolerance for verbena:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Verbena are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant verbena in Island Lake is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant verbena and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your verbena may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your verbena indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Island Lake. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Island Lake is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Island Lake you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your verbena 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.