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.

In Normal you can determine when it's a good idea to plant anchusa by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Anchusa

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

Anchusa are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them much earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant anchusa in Normal 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 anchusa and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your anchusa may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your anchusa indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Normal. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Normal is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Normal you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your anchusa in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Normal

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 Normal

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