One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

The first opportunity to plant lemon grass in Wilmette should be estimated by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lemon grass

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

You can plant lemon grass slightly earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant lemon grass 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 lemon grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your lemon grass may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lemon grass indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

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 last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your lemon grass if you have 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.