One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant nasturtium is to use the USDA zone info for Oak Forest.

Planting Calendar for Nasturtium

Frost tolerance for nasturtium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Nasturtium do not do well in cold weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant nasturtium in Oak Forest is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Oak Forest. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Oak Forest is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Oak Forest you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your nasturtium 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.