When to Plant Flax in Willow Springs, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The first chance to plant flax in Willow Springs should be determined by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Flax

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

Since flax are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant flax in Willow Springs 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 flax and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your flax may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your flax indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Willow Springs. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Willow Springs is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Willow Springs last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your flax in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Willow 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 Willow Springs

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