Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Muscatine you can figure out when it's the best time to plant begonias by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Begonias

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant begonias until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant begonias in Muscatine 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 begonias and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your begonias may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your begonias indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Muscatine. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Muscatine may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Muscatine you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your begonias if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Muscatine

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 Muscatine

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