One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 USDA zone info for Lake Bluff can be reviewed to estimate when it's possible to plant alstromeria.

Planting Calendar for Alstromeria

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

Alstromeria are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant alstromeria in Lake Bluff 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 alstromeria and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your alstromeria may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your alstromeria indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Lake Bluff. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Bluff you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your alstromeria if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Bluff

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 Lake Bluff

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Bluff.