One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 estimating when it's the best time to plant doronicum is to check out the USDA zone info for Joliet.

Planting Calendar for Doronicum

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

You can plant doronicum a little earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant doronicum in Joliet 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 doronicum and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your doronicum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your doronicum indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Joliet. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Joliet is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Joliet it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your doronicum if you have one of those late frosts.

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.