The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine 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 the best time to plant strawflowers is to consult the USDA zone info for Mount Prospect.

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 do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant strawflowers in Mount Prospect 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. If you wait any later than that and your strawflowers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your strawflowers indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Mount Prospect is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Mount Prospect it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your strawflowers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Prospect

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 Mount Prospect

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Prospect.