When to Plant Marigold in Clear Lake, IA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. 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 to plant marigold in Clear Lake by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Marigold

Frost tolerance for marigold: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant marigold until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant marigold in Clear Lake 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 marigold and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your marigold may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your marigold indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Clear Lake is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Clear Lake there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your marigold in the event of a 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.