When to Plant Calendula in Harlan, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 USDA zone info for Harlan can be used to determine when it's the best time to plant calendula.


Planting Calendar for Calendula

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

Since calendula do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant calendula in Harlan 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 calendula and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your calendula may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your calendula indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Harlan is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Harlan you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your calendula if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Harlan

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 Harlan

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