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.

One way of determining when it's the best time to plant lavender cotton is to refer to the USDA zone info for Park Forest.

Planting Calendar for Lavender Cotton

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

Lavender Cotton do well in cold which means that you can start planting them much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant lavender cotton in Park Forest 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 lavender cotton and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lavender cotton may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your lavender cotton 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 has passed is on April 15 in Park Forest. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Park Forest is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Park Forest there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your lavender cotton if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Park 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 Park Forest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Park Forest.