One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant bells of ireland is to examine the USDA zone info for Joliet.

Planting Calendar for Bells of Ireland

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

You can plant bells of ireland just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant bells of ireland in Joliet 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 bells of ireland and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bells of ireland may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bells of ireland indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Joliet is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Joliet you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your bells of ireland if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Joliet

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 Joliet

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