Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden 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 Skokie it's a good idea to determine when you can plant anchusa.

Planting Calendar for Anchusa

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

Anchusa do ok in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant anchusa in Skokie 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 anchusa and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your anchusa may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your anchusa indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Skokie. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Skokie is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Skokie you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your anchusa in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Skokie

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Skokie

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Skokie.