When to Plant Napa cabbage in Naperville, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

You will be able to estimate when it's possible to plant napa cabbage by reviewing the USDA zone info for Naperville.


Planting Calendar for Napa cabbage

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

Napa cabbage do well in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant napa cabbage 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 napa cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your napa cabbage may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your napa cabbage indoors is a great way to get them started 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.

Since the USDA zone info for Naperville may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Naperville last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your napa cabbage 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.