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.

In Skokie you can figure out when to plant matricaria by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

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

You can plant matricaria a 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 matricaria 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 matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your matricaria indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Skokie. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Skokie may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Skokie last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your matricaria in the event of a surprise 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.