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 Oelwein you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant festuca by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Festuca

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

Since festuca do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant festuca in Oelwein 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 festuca and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your festuca may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your festuca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Oelwein. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Oelwein is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Oelwein there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your festuca if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oelwein

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 Oelwein

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