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

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant oenothera is to examine the USDA zone info for Cicero.

Planting Calendar for Oenothera

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

Oenothera do ok in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant oenothera in Cicero 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 oenothera and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your oenothera may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your oenothera indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Cicero the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cicero may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Cicero it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your oenothera if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cicero

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 Cicero

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