The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. 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 should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's possible to plant schizanthus.

Planting Calendar for Schizanthus

Frost tolerance for schizanthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You should not plant schizanthus until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant schizanthus 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 schizanthus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your schizanthus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your schizanthus 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 an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Wilmette last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your schizanthus 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.