Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate 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 to plant digitalis is to use the USDA zone info for Evanston.

Planting Calendar for Digitalis

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

Digitalis can survive in some cold which means that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant digitalis in Evanston 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 digitalis and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your digitalis may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your digitalis indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Evanston. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Evanston and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Evanston last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your digitalis if you have a 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.