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.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant didiscus is to consult the USDA zone info for East Chicago.

Planting Calendar for Didiscus

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

Didiscus do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in East Chicago. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember 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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in East Chicago last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your didiscus if you have one of those late frosts.

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.