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

In Iowa City you can determine when it's the best time to plant chinese chives by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

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

You can plant chinese chives just a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives 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 chinese chives and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your chinese chives may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chinese chives indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Iowa City is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Iowa City there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your chinese chives if you have a surprise 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.