One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

One way of figuring out when to plant pyrethrum is to examine the USDA zone info for Des Moines.

Planting Calendar for Pyrethrum

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

Pyrethrum are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Des Moines is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Des Moines last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your pyrethrum in the event of 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.