One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 figure out when you can plant polka dot plant by looking at the USDA zone info for Iowa City.

Planting Calendar for Polka Dot Plant

Frost tolerance for polka dot plant:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Polka Dot Plant are not cold tolerant which tells us that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant polka dot plant 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 polka dot plant and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your polka dot plant may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your polka dot plant indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Iowa City is an average 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 cover your polka dot plant 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.