One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to estimate when you can plant geum by reviewing the USDA zone info for Wilmette.

Planting Calendar for Geum

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

Geum do ok in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Wilmette. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Wilmette is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Wilmette you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your geum in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.