When to Plant Sunflowers in Palos Heights, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Palos Heights can be reviewed to figure out when it's possible to plant sunflowers.


Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably not a good idea to plant sunflowers until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Palos Heights 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sunflowers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your sunflowers indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Palos Heights 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 Palos Heights is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Palos Heights there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your sunflowers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Palos Heights

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 Palos Heights

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Palos Heights.