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.

One way of making a decision about when you can plant baby's breath is to check out the USDA zone info for Iowa City.

Planting Calendar for Baby's Breath

Frost tolerance for baby's breath:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant baby's breath just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant baby's breath in Iowa City 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 baby's breath and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your baby's breath may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your baby's breath indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Iowa City the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Iowa City and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Iowa City last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your baby's breath in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Iowa City

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 Iowa City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Iowa City.