One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

It's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant daylily by using the USDA zone info for Ottumwa.

Planting Calendar for Daylily

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

Daylily are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant daylily in Ottumwa 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 daylily and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your daylily may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your daylily indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ottumwa the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ottumwa is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ottumwa it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your daylily in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ottumwa

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 Ottumwa

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