One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 a good idea to plant marigold is to use the USDA zone info for Evanston.

Planting Calendar for Marigold

Frost tolerance for marigold:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since marigold do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant marigold 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 marigold and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your marigold may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your marigold indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Evanston. It might get as low as -20°F during 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. Half of the time in Evanston it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your marigold 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.