One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

In Des Moines you can figure out when it's possible to plant doronicum by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Doronicum

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

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

The earliest that you can plant doronicum in Des Moines 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 doronicum and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your doronicum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your doronicum indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Des Moines the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember 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 Des Moines and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Des Moines you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your doronicum if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Des Moines

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Des Moines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Des Moines.