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.

In Des Moines you can determine when it's a good idea to plant garden mums by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

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

Garden Mums tend to make it in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums 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 garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your garden mums may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your garden mums indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Des Moines. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Des Moines is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Des Moines you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your garden mums in the event of a late frost.

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.