Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden 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 to plant begonias in North Chicago by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Begonias

Frost tolerance for begonias:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Begonias do not do well in cold weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant begonias in North Chicago is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant begonias and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your begonias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your begonias indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in North Chicago. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for North Chicago is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in North Chicago you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your begonias if you have a surprise late frost.

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.