When to Plant Tagetes in Willowbrook, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Willowbrook you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant tagetes by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Tagetes

Frost tolerance for tagetes: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant tagetes until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in Willowbrook 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tagetes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tagetes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Willowbrook. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Willowbrook is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Willowbrook there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your tagetes if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Willowbrook

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 Willowbrook

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Willowbrook.