When to Plant Chinese chives in Orange City, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Orange City can be looked at to determine when it's possible to plant chinese chives.


Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

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

Chinese chives do well in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant chinese chives
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant chinese chives
Probably not a good time to plant chinese chives

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Orange City. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Orange City is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Orange City there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your chinese chives if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Orange 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 Orange City

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