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

A way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant pampas grass is to examine the USDA zone info for North Chicago.

Planting Calendar for Pampas Grass

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

Pampas Grass do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pampas grass 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 pampas grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your pampas grass may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your pampas grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for North Chicago is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in North Chicago there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your pampas grass in the event of 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.