The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. 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 determine when it's possible to plant flowering kale by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Kale

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

Flowering Kale tend to make it in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant flowering kale 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 flowering kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your flowering kale may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your flowering kale indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for West Chicago may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in West Chicago you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your flowering kale if you have 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.