Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant arctotis is to use the USDA zone info for West Chicago.

Planting Calendar for Arctotis

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

Arctotis do ok in mild cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant arctotis in West Chicago 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 arctotis and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your arctotis may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your arctotis indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in West Chicago. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for West Chicago is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in West Chicago you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your arctotis in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for West Chicago

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 West Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Chicago.