The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine 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.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant sweet peas in Ankeny by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Peas

Frost tolerance for sweet peas:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Sweet Peas do ok in some cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet peas in Ankeny is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sweet peas and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your sweet peas may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your sweet peas indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ankeny. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ankeny is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Ankeny it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your sweet peas in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ankeny

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 Ankeny

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