One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Streamwood can be reviewed to determine when it's the best time to plant zinnia.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

Frost tolerance for zinnia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant zinnia until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Streamwood 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 zinnia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your zinnia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your zinnia 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 Streamwood. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Streamwood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Streamwood

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