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 monkey flower by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Monkey Flower

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

Monkey Flower are not cold tolerant which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant monkey flower 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 monkey flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your monkey flower may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your monkey flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for West Chicago and it is different every year. Since half of the time in West Chicago you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your monkey flower 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.