The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when to plant hardy asters in Waukegan by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Asters

Frost tolerance for hardy asters:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Hardy Asters do well in very little cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant hardy asters in Waukegan is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant hardy asters and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your hardy asters may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hardy asters indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Waukegan is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Waukegan you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your hardy asters if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waukegan

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 Waukegan

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