The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Lake Zurich you can determine when to plant centaurea by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Centaurea

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

Since centaurea are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Lake Zurich. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Zurich may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Zurich you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your centaurea if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Zurich

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 Zurich

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