When to Plant Balloon Flower in Lake in the Hills, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Lake in the Hills can be reffered to in order to figure out when it's possible to plant balloon flower.


Planting Calendar for Balloon Flower

Frost tolerance for balloon flower: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Balloon Flower do well in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant balloon flower
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant balloon flower
Probably not a good time to plant balloon flower

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in Lake in the Hills is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant balloon flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your balloon flower may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your balloon flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Lake in the Hills is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake in the Hills you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your balloon flower in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake in the Hills

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 in the Hills

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