Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Ames you can determine when to plant hardy hibiscus by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Hibiscus

Frost tolerance for hardy hibiscus:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Hardy Hibiscus do well in cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus 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 hardy hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hardy hibiscus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your hardy hibiscus indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Ames is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ames last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your hardy hibiscus if you have a surprise late frost.

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.