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 Vernon Hills you can determine when it's the best time to plant pentas by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pentas

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant pentas until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant pentas in Vernon Hills 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 pentas and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pentas may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your pentas indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Vernon Hills. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Vernon Hills is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Vernon Hills you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your pentas in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Vernon Hills

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 Vernon Hills

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Vernon Hills.