One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

In Ames you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant torch lilys by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Torch Lilys

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

Torch Lilys are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant torch lilys 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 torch lilys and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your torch lilys may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your torch lilys indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Ames. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

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 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 prepared to protect your torch lilys if you have 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.