Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In North Chicago you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant creeping phlox by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Creeping Phlox

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

Creeping Phlox tend to make it in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

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 is different every year. Since half of the time in North Chicago you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your creeping phlox in the event of a 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.