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.

The USDA zone info for Ames can be looked at to determine when it's a good idea to plant primroses.

Planting Calendar for Primroses

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

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

The earliest that you can plant primroses 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 primroses and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your primroses may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your primroses indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ames the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ames and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ames it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your primroses in the event of a 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.