When to Plant Dallas Fern in Iowa City, 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.

It's a good idea to estimate when it's a good idea to plant dallas fern by looking at the USDA zone info for Iowa City.


Planting Calendar for Dallas Fern

Frost tolerance for dallas fern: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's not a good idea to plant dallas fern until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant dallas fern in Iowa City 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 dallas fern and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dallas fern may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your dallas fern indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Iowa City. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Iowa City may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Iowa City you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your dallas fern in the event of 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.