One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant sutera by looking at the USDA zone info for Ankeny.

Planting Calendar for Sutera

Frost tolerance for sutera:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Sutera are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The last month that you can plant sutera and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your sutera may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your sutera indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Ankeny. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

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 Ankeny and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ankeny you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your sutera if you have one of those late frosts.

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.