When to Plant Sweet Williams in Iowa City, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant sweet williams by using the USDA zone info for Iowa City.


Planting Calendar for Sweet Williams

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

Sweet Williams tend to make it in some cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant sweet williams 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 sweet williams and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your sweet williams may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your sweet williams indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Iowa City. In the coldest months of winter you can 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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Iowa City you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your sweet williams in the event of a 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.