One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 first opportunity to plant tritoma in North Chicago can be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tritoma

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

Tritoma are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant tritoma 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 tritoma and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your tritoma may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your tritoma indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for North Chicago may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in North Chicago it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your tritoma 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.