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.

The earliest that you can plant stevia in Ankeny should be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Stevia

Frost tolerance for stevia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You can not plant stevia until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant stevia in Ankeny 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 stevia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your stevia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your stevia indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on 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 an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ankeny last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your stevia in the event of a surprise 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.