Best Plants for Chicago

Every plant here has been checked against Chicago’s summer heat, winter cold, chill hours, humidity and rainfall. Good fits grow reliably with ordinary care. Marginal fits can work, but need extra care such as shade, frost cover or a pot you can move. Click any plant for the full reasoning.

Turn on JavaScript to filter these lists by plant type and lifecycle.

Planting windows are worked out from Chicago’s estimated monthly temperatures and each plant’s comfortable range: warm enough to avoid frost damage, cool enough to avoid heat stress. Pick a month, or click a cell in the grid.

Estimates only. They use average temperatures and don’t include local rainfall timing, frost dates or microclimate, so treat them as a starting point and check with a local nursery. In monsoon and wet-dry climates, trees and shrubs usually establish best at the start of the rains. An asterisk (*) means the plant’s best available window is only a rough fit here. Indoor and potted plants such as houseplants, orchids and bromeliads can be potted at any time, so they aren’t listed in the calendar. “Annual” includes biennials and tender perennials grown as annuals (tomato, chilli, petunia).