One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant daylily in Ames can be estimated by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Daylily

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

You can plant daylily a little earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Ames. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ames and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Ames you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your daylily if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ames

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 Ames

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