One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Skokie it's possible to figure out when to plant lantana.

Planting Calendar for Lantana

Frost tolerance for lantana:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's a bad idea to plant lantana until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant lantana in Skokie 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 lantana and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lantana may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your lantana indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Skokie and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Skokie last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your lantana 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.