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.

In West Chicago you can figure out when it's the best time to plant datura by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Datura

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

You can plant datura slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant datura in West Chicago 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 datura and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your datura may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your datura indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for West Chicago is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in West Chicago there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your datura in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.