One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to estimate when it's a good idea to plant runner beans by referring to the USDA zone info for Lombard.

Planting Calendar for Runner beans

Frost tolerance for runner beans:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Runner beans require warm weather which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant runner beans in Lombard is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant runner beans and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your runner beans may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your runner beans indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Lombard. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Lombard is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lombard it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your runner beans in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lombard

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 Lombard

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