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When to Plant Bleeding Hearts in Iowa City, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Iowa City can be used to determine when it's the best time to plant bleeding hearts.


Planting Calendar for Bleeding Hearts

Frost tolerance for bleeding hearts: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Bleeding Hearts do well in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant bleeding hearts in Iowa City is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Iowa City may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Iowa City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your bleeding hearts if you have a late frost.

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.