One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

A way of figuring out when you can plant matricaria is to use the USDA zone info for Oak Forest.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

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

Matricaria do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria 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 matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your matricaria indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few 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.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Oak Forest is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Oak Forest it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your matricaria in the event of a late frost.

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.