Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant anchusa is to consult the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff.

Planting Calendar for Anchusa

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

Since anchusa do well in cold you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant anchusa 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 anchusa and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your anchusa may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your anchusa indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Lake Bluff. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Lake Bluff you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your anchusa if you have one of those late frosts.

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.