The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of getting a good idea when to plant monarda is to look at the USDA zone info for Libertyville.

Planting Calendar for Monarda

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

Monarda are barely cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Libertyville. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Libertyville is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Libertyville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your monarda in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Libertyville

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 Libertyville

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Libertyville.