Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant delphinium is to look at the USDA zone info for East Chicago.

Planting Calendar for Delphinium

Frost tolerance for delphinium:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Delphinium do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant delphinium in East Chicago is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant delphinium and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your delphinium may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your delphinium indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for East Chicago and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in East Chicago there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your delphinium in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for East Chicago

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 East Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for East Chicago.