When to Plant Foxglove in Ottawa, IL

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

In Ottawa you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant foxglove by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Foxglove

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

Foxglove do ok in some cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Ottawa. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ottawa and it is different every year. Half of the time in Ottawa it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your foxglove if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ottawa

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 Ottawa

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ottawa.