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.

One way of making a decision about when to plant alternanthera is to look at the USDA zone info for Prospect Heights.

Planting Calendar for Alternanthera

Frost tolerance for alternanthera:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You should not plant alternanthera until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant alternanthera in Prospect 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 alternanthera and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your alternanthera may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your alternanthera indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Prospect Heights. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Prospect Heights is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Prospect Heights you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your alternanthera if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Prospect 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 Prospect Heights

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