One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 Western Springs you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant echinacea by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Echinacea

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

Echinacea do well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Western Springs 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 echinacea and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your echinacea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your echinacea indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Western Springs. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Western Springs is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Western Springs you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your echinacea if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Western Springs

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 Western Springs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Western Springs.