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.

The USDA zone info for Wilmette can be read to determine when you can plant larkspur.

Planting Calendar for Larkspur

Frost tolerance for larkspur:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Larkspur do well in cold which means that you can plant them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant larkspur 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 larkspur and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your larkspur may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your larkspur indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Wilmette. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Wilmette and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Wilmette you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your larkspur 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.