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

A way of determining when it's the best time to plant painted tongues is to refer to the USDA zone info for Muscatine.

Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

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

You should not plant painted tongues until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Muscatine. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Muscatine is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Muscatine you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your painted tongues in the event of a surprise 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.