One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 larkspur in Kankakee should be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Larkspur

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

Since larkspur are very cold tolerant you can plant them earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant larkspur in Kankakee 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 larkspur and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your larkspur may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your larkspur 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 Kankakee. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Kankakee is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Kankakee you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your larkspur if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Kankakee

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 Kankakee

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