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.

In Ankeny you can figure out when it's possible to plant flax by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Flax

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

You can plant flax a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant flax 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 flax and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your flax may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your flax indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Ankeny. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ankeny may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ankeny there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your flax 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.