When to Plant Gayfeather in Naperville, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Naperville it's a good idea to determine when to plant gayfeather.


Planting Calendar for Gayfeather

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

Gayfeather are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant gayfeather
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant gayfeather
Probably not a good time to plant gayfeather

The earliest that you can plant gayfeather in Naperville 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 really do well. If you are starting your gayfeather 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 Naperville. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Naperville and it is different every year. Half of the time in Naperville there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your gayfeather if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Naperville

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 Naperville

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