The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate 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 estimating when it's a good idea to plant achillea is to look at the USDA zone info for Matteson.

Planting Calendar for Achillea

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

Since achillea are very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant achillea in Matteson 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 achillea and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your achillea may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your achillea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Matteson is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Matteson it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your achillea in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Matteson

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 Matteson

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