One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 figure out when it's a good idea to plant decorative kale by checking out the USDA zone info for New Lenox.

Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

Frost tolerance for decorative kale:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant decorative kale a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant decorative kale in New Lenox 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 decorative kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your decorative kale may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your decorative kale indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In New Lenox the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for New Lenox is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in New Lenox you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your decorative kale in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for New Lenox

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 New Lenox

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Lenox.