One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for North Chicago can be looked at to estimate when it's the best time to plant schizanthus.

Planting Calendar for Schizanthus

Frost tolerance for schizanthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Schizanthus are not cold tolerant which tells us 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 schizanthus 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 schizanthus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your schizanthus may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your schizanthus indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

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.

Since the USDA zone info for North Chicago is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in North Chicago you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your schizanthus if you have 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.