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When to Plant Black Eyed Susans in West Chicago, IL

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 determining when it's a good idea to plant black eyed susans is to check out the USDA zone info for West Chicago.


Planting Calendar for Black Eyed Susans

Frost tolerance for black eyed susans: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

Black Eyed Susans do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it is important to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant black eyed susans
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant black eyed susans
Probably not a good time to plant black eyed susans

The earliest that you can plant black eyed susans in West Chicago 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 black eyed susans and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your black eyed susans may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your black eyed susans indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost 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 not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in West Chicago it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your black eyed susans 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.