Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 it's the best time to plant santolina is to use the USDA zone info for Lake in the Hills.

Planting Calendar for Santolina

Frost tolerance for santolina:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant santolina quite a bit earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant santolina in Lake in the Hills 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 santolina and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your santolina may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your santolina indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Lake in the Hills the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can 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 changes from year to year. Half of the time in Lake in the Hills it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your santolina in the event of a 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.