When to Plant Skullcap in Spencer, IA

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

By using the USDA zone info for Spencer it's possible to figure out when it's the best time to plant skullcap.


Planting Calendar for Skullcap

Frost tolerance for skullcap: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant skullcap until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant skullcap 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 skullcap and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your skullcap may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your skullcap indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Spencer may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Spencer you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your skullcap 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.