One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when it's the best time to plant doronicum is to use the USDA zone info for Lake Forest.

Planting Calendar for Doronicum

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

Doronicum are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

In Lake Forest the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Forest is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Forest there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your doronicum in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Forest

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 Forest

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