One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant hardy hibiscus is to look at the USDA zone info for Oak Forest.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Hibiscus

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

Hardy Hibiscus are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus 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 hardy hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hardy hibiscus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your hardy hibiscus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Oak Forest the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Oak Forest and it is different every year. Half of the time in Oak Forest it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your hardy hibiscus 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.