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

In Maquoketa you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant brachycome by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Brachycome

Frost tolerance for brachycome:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since brachycome are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Maquoketa. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Maquoketa is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Maquoketa there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your brachycome if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Maquoketa

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Maquoketa

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Maquoketa.