The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine 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 determining when it's possible to plant monkey flower is to refer to the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff.

Planting Calendar for Monkey Flower

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

Since monkey flower require warm weather you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant monkey 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 monkey flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your monkey flower may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your monkey flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Lake Bluff the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Bluff you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your monkey flower 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.