One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant strawflowers in Matteson should be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Strawflowers

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

Strawflowers can survive in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant strawflowers in Matteson 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 strawflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your strawflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your strawflowers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Matteson. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Matteson is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Matteson it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your strawflowers in the event of a late frost.

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.