When to Plant Creeping Phlox in Cedar Rapids, IA

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.

The first opportunity to plant creeping phlox in Cedar Rapids should be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Creeping Phlox

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

You can plant creeping phlox quite a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant creeping phlox
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant creeping phlox
Probably not a good time to plant creeping phlox

The earliest that you can plant creeping phlox in Cedar Rapids 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 creeping phlox and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your creeping phlox may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your creeping phlox indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Cedar Rapids is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Cedar Rapids it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your creeping phlox if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cedar Rapids

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 Cedar Rapids

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Cedar Rapids.