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.

The first opportunity to plant celosia in North Chicago can be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Celosia

Frost tolerance for celosia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Celosia are not cold tolerant which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant celosia 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 celosia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your celosia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your celosia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in North Chicago. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for North Chicago is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in North Chicago it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your celosia 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.