The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant balloon flower in North Chicago by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Balloon Flower

Frost tolerance for balloon flower:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since balloon flower are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant balloon flower in North Chicago 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 balloon flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your balloon flower may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your balloon flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in North Chicago. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for North Chicago is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in North Chicago you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your balloon flower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for North Chicago

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 North Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for North Chicago.