Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant lavender in Skokie should be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lavender

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

You can plant lavender a little earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant lavender 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 lavender and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your lavender may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your lavender indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Skokie is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Skokie it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your lavender 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.