One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Melrose Park it's a good idea to estimate when it's a good idea to plant geum.

Planting Calendar for Geum

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

Geum do ok in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Melrose Park is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Melrose Park last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your geum if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Melrose 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 Melrose Park

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