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

The first chance to plant alyssum in Estherville should be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Alyssum

Frost tolerance for alyssum:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant alyssum earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant alyssum in Estherville 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 alyssum and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your alyssum may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your alyssum indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Estherville. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Estherville is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Estherville there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your alyssum if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Estherville

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 Estherville

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