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.

The first chance to plant arctotis in Mason City should be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Arctotis

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

Arctotis are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant arctotis in Mason 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 arctotis and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your arctotis may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your arctotis indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Mason City. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Mason City is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mason City you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your arctotis if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mason City

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 Mason City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mason City.