When to Plant Lovage in Manhattan, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Manhattan should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's a good idea to plant lovage.


Planting Calendar for Lovage

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

Lovage do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant lovage in Manhattan 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 lovage and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lovage may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your lovage indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Manhattan the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Manhattan and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Manhattan you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your lovage if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Manhattan

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 Manhattan

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