When to Plant Schizanthus in Spencer, 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 zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when it's a good idea to plant schizanthus in Spencer by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Schizanthus

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

You should not plant schizanthus until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant schizanthus 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 schizanthus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your schizanthus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your schizanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Spencer. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Spencer and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Spencer it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your schizanthus in the event of a late frost.

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.