The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. 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 used to determine when it's possible to plant violets.

Planting Calendar for Violets

Frost tolerance for violets:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Violets can survive in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on 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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in North Chicago last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your violets 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.