One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant heliotrope is to look at the USDA zone info for Tinley Park.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

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

Since heliotrope are not cold tolerant you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Tinley Park 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 heliotrope and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your heliotrope may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your heliotrope indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Tinley Park the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Tinley Park is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Tinley Park it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your heliotrope in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Tinley Park

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 Tinley Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Tinley Park.