When to Plant Ornamental Grasses in Oskaloosa, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant ornamental grasses is to examine the USDA zone info for Oskaloosa.


Planting Calendar for Ornamental Grasses

Frost tolerance for ornamental grasses: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant ornamental grasses slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant ornamental grasses
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant ornamental grasses
Probably not a good time to plant ornamental grasses

The earliest that you can plant ornamental grasses in Oskaloosa is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant ornamental grasses and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your ornamental grasses may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your ornamental grasses 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 Oskaloosa. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Oskaloosa may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Oskaloosa it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your ornamental grasses if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oskaloosa

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 Oskaloosa

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