One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when to plant tagetes is to examine the USDA zone info for Iowa City.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

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

You should not plant tagetes until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your tagetes may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your tagetes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Iowa City. You can 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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Iowa City it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your tagetes if you have 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.