The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Wilmette you can figure out when you can plant flax by looking at 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 earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant flax in Wilmette 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your flax may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your flax indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Wilmette. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Wilmette is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Wilmette last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your flax in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmette

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 Wilmette

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