One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant matricaria is to refer to the USDA zone info for Cedar Rapids.

Planting Calendar for Matricaria

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

Matricaria are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant matricaria 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 matricaria and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your matricaria may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your matricaria indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Cedar Rapids the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cedar Rapids is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Cedar Rapids there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your matricaria in the event of 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.