When to Plant Gazania in Iowa City, IA

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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Iowa City it's a good idea to determine when it's possible to plant gazania.


Planting Calendar for Gazania

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

Gazania are barely cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant gazania 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 gazania and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gazania may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your gazania indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer 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 not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Iowa City it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your gazania 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.