One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of estimating when it's possible to plant flowering tobacco is to use the USDA zone info for Wilmette.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Tobacco

Frost tolerance for flowering tobacco:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since flowering tobacco do not do well in cold weather it's necessary to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant flowering tobacco in Wilmette 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 flowering tobacco and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your flowering tobacco may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your flowering tobacco indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Wilmette. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Wilmette and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Wilmette it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your flowering tobacco 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.