When to Plant Nasturtium in Grinnell, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant nasturtium is to check out the USDA zone info for Grinnell.


Planting Calendar for Nasturtium

Frost tolerance for nasturtium: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

Since nasturtium do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant nasturtium in Grinnell is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant nasturtium and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your nasturtium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your nasturtium indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Grinnell 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.

Since the USDA zone info for Grinnell is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Grinnell it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your nasturtium in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Grinnell

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 Grinnell

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