The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening 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 to plant cardinal flower is to consult the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

Frost tolerance for cardinal flower:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant cardinal flower until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Lake Bluff is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cardinal flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Bluff you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your cardinal flower in the event of 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.