When to Plant Coleus in Spencer, IA

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when it's possible to plant coleus by checking out the USDA zone info for Spencer.


Planting Calendar for Coleus

Frost tolerance for coleus: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

You really shouldn't plant coleus until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant coleus in Spencer is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant coleus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your coleus may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your coleus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Spencer. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Spencer is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Spencer there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your coleus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Spencer

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 Spencer

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