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

One way of determining when it's the best time to plant calendula is to check out the USDA zone info for Winnetka.

Planting Calendar for Calendula

Frost tolerance for calendula:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Calendula tend to make it in mild cold which means that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

In Winnetka the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Winnetka is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Winnetka it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your calendula in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Winnetka

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 Winnetka

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Winnetka.