The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant garden mums is to refer to the USDA zone info for Evanston.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

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

Garden Mums do well in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums 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 garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your garden mums may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your garden mums indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Evanston. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Evanston may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Evanston you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your garden mums in the event of 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.