When to Plant Garden Mums in Dubuque, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant garden mums in Dubuque should be estimated by looking at 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.

You can plant garden mums a little bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant garden mums in Dubuque 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. If you wait any later than that and your garden mums may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your garden mums indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Dubuque the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Dubuque is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Dubuque it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your garden mums in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dubuque

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 Dubuque

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Dubuque.