When to Plant Fennel in Schiller Park, 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Schiller Park it's a good idea to determine when it's possible to plant fennel.


Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel can survive in cold weather which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Schiller Park 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 fennel and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your fennel indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Schiller Park may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Schiller Park last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your fennel in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Schiller Park

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 Schiller Park

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