One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's possible to plant thunbergia in Ames by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Thunbergia

Frost tolerance for thunbergia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Thunbergia are not cold tolerant which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant thunbergia in Ames is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant thunbergia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your thunbergia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your thunbergia indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ames the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ames and it is different every year. Half of the time in Ames you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your thunbergia in the event of 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.