When to Plant Chinese chives in Lincoln, IL

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

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant chinese chives is to refer to the USDA zone info for Lincoln.


Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

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

Since chinese chives are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant chinese chives
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant chinese chives
Probably not a good time to plant chinese chives

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in Lincoln 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 chinese chives and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chinese chives may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your chinese chives indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Lincoln the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Lincoln is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Lincoln last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your chinese chives in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lincoln

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 Lincoln

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