One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to determine when it's the best time to plant cleome by referring to the USDA zone info for Winthrop Harbor.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

Frost tolerance for cleome:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Cleome are not cold tolerant which means that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Winthrop Harbor 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 cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cleome may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your cleome indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Winthrop Harbor. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Winthrop Harbor is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Winthrop Harbor there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your cleome if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Winthrop Harbor

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 Winthrop Harbor

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Winthrop Harbor.