One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 common way of estimating when you can plant borage is to use the USDA zone info for Olympia Fields.

Planting Calendar for Borage

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

You can plant borage a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant borage in Olympia Fields 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. Any later than that and your borage may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your borage indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Olympia Fields the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Olympia Fields is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Olympia Fields there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your borage if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Olympia Fields

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 Olympia Fields

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Olympia Fields.