One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A way of determining when to plant hamelia is to check out the USDA zone info for Lake Forest.

Planting Calendar for Hamelia

Frost tolerance for hamelia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Hamelia do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant hamelia in Lake Forest 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 hamelia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hamelia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your hamelia indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Lake Forest. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Lake Forest is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Lake Forest you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your hamelia 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.