When to Plant Diascia in Oak Forest, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Oak Forest it's possible to determine when you can plant diascia.


Planting Calendar for Diascia

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

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

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant diascia
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant diascia
Probably not a good time to plant diascia

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Oak Forest. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Oak Forest and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Oak Forest you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your diascia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Oak Forest

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 Forest

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