Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden 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 determining when it's possible to plant dallas fern is to examine the USDA zone info for Evanston.

Planting Calendar for Dallas Fern

Frost tolerance for dallas fern:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since dallas fern require warm weather it is necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dallas fern in Evanston 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 dallas fern and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your dallas fern may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your dallas fern indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Evanston the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Evanston is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Evanston there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your dallas fern if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Evanston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Evanston

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