Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden 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 Oak Brook can be used to determine when to plant borage.

Planting Calendar for Borage

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

Borage do ok in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant borage in Oak Brook 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 borage and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your borage may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your borage indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Oak Brook the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Oak Brook is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Oak Brook last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your borage in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Oak Brook

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 Oak Brook

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Oak Brook.