One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 looking at the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff it's a good idea to estimate when you can plant cerastium.

Planting Calendar for Cerastium

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

Since cerastium are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant cerastium 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 cerastium and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your cerastium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cerastium indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lake Bluff there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your cerastium in the event of 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.