One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 Muscatine you can determine when it's the best time to plant salpiglossis by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Salpiglossis

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

It's not a good idea to plant salpiglossis until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant salpiglossis 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 salpiglossis and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your salpiglossis may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your salpiglossis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Muscatine. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Muscatine is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Muscatine it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your salpiglossis if you have 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.