When to Plant Yarrow in Ottawa, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

It's possible to determine when to plant yarrow by referring to the USDA zone info for Ottawa.


Planting Calendar for Yarrow

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

Yarrow are very cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant yarrow 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 yarrow and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your yarrow may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your yarrow indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ottawa. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ottawa and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ottawa it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your yarrow if you have one of those late frosts.

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.