When to Plant Anchusa in Clear Lake, IA

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.

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant anchusa in Clear Lake by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Anchusa

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

Anchusa do well in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

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

Last Frost Date

In Clear Lake the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Clear Lake 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 Clear Lake you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your anchusa in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clear Lake

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 Clear Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Clear Lake.