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.

The USDA zone info for Ankeny should be read to estimate when it's possible to plant aurinia.

Planting Calendar for Aurinia

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

You can plant aurinia a lot 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 aurinia in Ankeny 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 aurinia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your aurinia may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your aurinia indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Ankeny is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Ankeny you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your aurinia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ankeny

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 Ankeny

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ankeny.