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When to Plant Geum in Iowa City, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

The earliest that you can plant geum in Iowa City should be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Geum

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

Geum are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

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

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Iowa City and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Iowa City you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your geum if you have 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.