One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 Minooka you can determine when it's a good idea to plant gayfeather by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

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

You can plant gayfeather a lot earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Minooka 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 gayfeather and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your gayfeather may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your gayfeather indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Minooka is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Minooka last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your gayfeather in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Minooka

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 Minooka

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