One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

You can figure out when it's possible to plant coral bells in Skokie by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Coral Bells

Frost tolerance for coral bells:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant coral bells a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant coral bells 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 coral bells and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your coral bells may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your coral bells indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Skokie. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Skokie is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Skokie last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your coral bells if you have one of those late frosts.

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.