The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's possible to plant chicory is to check out the USDA zone info for Winnetka.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

You can plant chicory just a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant chicory 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 chicory and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your chicory may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chicory indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Winnetka is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Winnetka there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your chicory in the event of a late frost.

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.