One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Loves Park you can estimate when you can plant lavender cotton by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lavender Cotton

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

Since lavender cotton do well in cold you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lavender cotton in Loves Park 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 lavender cotton and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your lavender cotton may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lavender cotton indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Loves Park. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Loves Park is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Loves Park it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your lavender cotton if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Loves Park

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 Loves Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Loves Park.