When to Plant Pincushion Flower in Pella, IA

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A common way of estimating when it's possible to plant pincushion flower is to refer to the USDA zone info for Pella.


Planting Calendar for Pincushion Flower

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

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

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant pincushion flower
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant pincushion flower
Probably not a good time to plant pincushion flower

The earliest that you can plant pincushion flower in Pella 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 pincushion flower and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your pincushion flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your pincushion flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Pella the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Pella is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Pella last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to protect your pincushion flower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Pella

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 Pella

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