When to Plant Indian cress in West Chicago, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for West Chicago it's possible to estimate when to plant indian cress.


Planting Calendar for Indian cress

Frost tolerance for indian cress: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Indian cress do not do well in cold weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant indian cress
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant indian cress
Probably not a good time to plant indian cress

The earliest that you can plant indian cress 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 indian cress and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your indian cress may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your indian cress indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for West Chicago is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in West Chicago you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your indian cress in the event of a 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.