One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

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

Planting Calendar for Statice

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

Since statice do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant statice 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 statice and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your statice may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your statice indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ames is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ames you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your statice 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.