When to Plant Oenothera in La Grange, IL

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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for La Grange it's a good idea to figure out when it's possible to plant oenothera.


Planting Calendar for Oenothera

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

Since oenothera do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant oenothera
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant oenothera
Probably not a good time to plant oenothera

The earliest that you can plant oenothera in La Grange 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 oenothera and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your oenothera may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your oenothera indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in La Grange. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for La Grange may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in La Grange you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your oenothera if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for La Grange

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 La Grange

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Grange.